Vandread Zero
by 1st Lieutenant. Fae
Summary: During the final battle above the Avalon Dam within Belkan territory, the Demon Lord of the Round Table, Cipher and his former wingman Solo Wing Pixy were both consumed by a massive light before being thrown into the far future.
1. Prologue

An idea proposed to me by The Emerald's Edge and Vader23A, we're each doing a crossover between Ace Combat and Vandread. My crossover is Ace Combat 0 so I hope you enjoy.

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><p>Avalon Dam, Belka, December 31st 1995.<p>

This was it, the location of the V2 launch facility being used by the terrorist organization A World with no Boundaries.

This massive facility wasn't just a house for the V2 nuke, but was also a massive air base for the terrorist group. Their final base.

The elite fighter pilot Cipher also known as Galm 1 and his wingman PJ, were tasked with the sole purpose of destroying this facility while the allied forces drew the enemy's fire to themselves.

It wasn't going to be easy, but there was no doubt that the only pilot that could accomplish such a thing was Cipher himself.

The Belkan war started earlier that year, in May of 1995.

During an economical strife, the nation Belka allowed its eastern territories to succeed, but this did not alleviate any of the economical troubles for the nation. Meanwhile the neighboring country and world superpower Osea took advantage of the situation and continued to flourish.

During this turmoil an extreme right wing party took power within Belka and after discovering natural resources within the borders of the Republic of Ustio, Belka former eastern territory, the nation began to invade its neighbors.

One by one nations fell to the might of the superior Belkan Air Force and the Belkan war had officially begun.

Belka had quickly subdued all of Ustio, capturing its capital city within only a few weeks of declaring war, and continued to easily withstand and push back any attempt made from Yuktobonia and Osea.

With their own military mostly defeated or destroyed Ustio turned to mercenary pilots for their last defense, two pilots stood far out from the rest.

Cipher and Solo Wing Pixy. These two mercenaries each had their own unique story behind them; Pixy (Real name Larry Foulke) earned his nickname Solo Wing after having the right wing of his F-15C blown off during a mission.

Even with his missing wing Pixy managed to stay in the air and complete his mission before safely returning to base.

Cipher's story however is much different, but just as well known. Originally just a lone mercenary pilot that flew by a specific code, Cipher had more recorded kills than any other recruited mercenary even before he joined Ustio's Air Force.

Cipher's persistence in battle coupled with his knack for sparring enemy targets that could not fight back unless necessary made him something of a legend amongst other mercenaries, however Cipher's name traveled much faster since no one knew what he looked like. Only Solo Wing Pixy had ever seen Cipher without his flight helmet on, but if anyone asked what he looked like, Pixy would just smile and turn away.

In their first mission together Cipher and Pixy, now the two members of the 66th Air Force Unit A.K.A Galm Squadron. The two pilots were to intercept and destroy a massive group of Belkan bombers that were heading toward Valais air base the last remaining Ustio base not under Belkan control.

After successfully intercepting and shooting down each of the bombers the two pilots quickly became friends, even though Cipher never spoke much Pixy always referred to him as "Buddy".

Cipher and Pixy became the center of attention from all sides of the Belkan war after a massive aerial battle in Belkan Airspace B7R, A.K.A The Round Table, where Galm team was sent in as the only reinforcements to a losing battle.

The Allied Forces had already lost 40% of their fighters by the time Galm showed up and that was when the balance of power tipped toward the Allied Forces.

Easily and quickly Cipher and Pixy had shot down more than half of the remaining Belkan forces, and due to a mission a few days prior to that battle Cipher was already well known by the Belkan military for destroying their super laser weapon codenamed Excalibur.

Once the Belkan fighters confirmed that it was Cipher who destroyed Excalibur every Belkan fighter set their priority to him determined to stop him right there, but after seeing Cipher's superior ability they realized that there was nothing they could do to stop him.

The Allied pilots that were also involved with the battle watched as Cipher single handedly managed to shoot down enemy after enemy with no trouble at all, and because of a small legend that was born many years ago Cipher received the nickname Demon Lord of the Round Table.

When Belkan reinforcements finally arrived most of the Belkan fighters were already shot down, leaving only a few left that were fleeing the battle due to excessive combat damage.

The incoming Belkan squad was the 13th Night Fighter Air Division of the 6th Tactical Fighter Squadron "Schwarze".

A squadron of 8 MiG-31 Foxhounds with a bare black and red paint scheme feared even by their own allies.

The elite squadron engaged the Galm team in combat, but even they fell to the superior piloting skills of Cipher. Even Pixy was impressed at this point, but the war had taken a turn for the worst one day.

During an operation into Belka one day to force back the last remaining Belkan military forces, the Belkan officials committed the unthinkable. They set off nuclear weapons on their own soil to stave off the advancing enemy forces, killing thousands on both sides.

Seeing this act firsthand Pixy fled from the current battle after shortly turning on his flight lead and friend Cipher.

After a few minutes of trying to shoot down his own friend Pixy finally fled the battle and thanks to some remaining Belkan fighters, Cipher was unable to follow after him.

After Pixy's defection and disappearance the position of Galm 2 was given to PJ, a young mercenary pilot that was formerly number 3 in the Crow squadron that was destroyed during the nuclear attack.

Cipher and PJ continued their duties as members of the Ustio Air Force and eventually brought the Belkan military down and presumably ended the war, but a terrorist organization calling themselves a World with no Boundaries attacked the peace conference with their massive Heavy Command Cruiser codenamed XB-0.

After the attack the massive mobile HQ vanished and reappeared above Valais air base to launch an attack to draw out the Demon Lord himself.

After the XB-0 passed over the air base the Galm team was sent out to destroy the giant monster for good.

Meeting severe resistance along the way including a squadron from the allied nation Sapin, now allied with the terrorist group Galm team managed to fight their way through before bringing down the massive mobile base.

After the destruction of the XB-0 the terrorist organization revealed their true plan. To use a V2 nuke to 'wipe away all boundaries and borders, to start a new world'.

After hearing this plan the allied forces launched an all out attack to stop the terrorist organization once and for all.

Galm team was to be the final blow in this operation, but before they could arrive they had to fly through the Round Table one more time.

Once the Galm team was halfway through the Round Table another enemy squadron from the terrorist group intercepted them, this time it was the Gault squadron.

Anton "Dr." Kupchenko, the flight lead of the Gault squadron revealed that he was the leader of the terrorist group and it was his plan to erase the world's borders to start anew.

It was a long battle, but Galm team managed to destroy the enemy squadron before proceeding to Avalon Damn where the V2 was located.

Thanks to the battle with the Gault squadron, Galm was late and the operation had already begun and the allies were taking heavy losses.

Realizing that time was something they didn't have Cipher and PJ quickly flew through the valley toward the dam at the far end.

Reaching their destination PJ flew high to draw the enemy's attention away from Cipher while he flew into the dam itself to destroy the V2 controls and generators.

After making several passes through the dam Cipher managed to expose and destroy each of the cores for the launch facility before flying out with his wingman by his side.

"We did it!" PJ cheered "We stopped the launch. We're going to branded as heroes".

After setting himself in formation alongside Cipher, PJ announced that he had a girlfriend back at the base and he planned to propose to her when he got back. Leaning to the side of his pilot's seat PJ held up a bouquet of flowers for Cipher to see from his cockpit, but their moment was cut short when the pilot of their AWACS announced the presence of an unknown enemy heading for them.

"What!" PJ yelled before flying right in front of Cipher just as a red laser shot toward him. "Dangit!" PJ cried just as the laser hit him destroying his fighter.

The force from the impact shattered the glass from Cipher's canopy while PJ's F-16 was sent hurdling toward the Earth below in a smoking wreck.

"So, have you found a reason to fight yet?" a familiar voice asked Cipher from the radio just as the unknown enemy craft appeared far out in front of him "Buddy".

This new craft was a prototype fighter known as the ADFX-02 codenamed Morgan and it was piloted by Cipher's old wingman and friend, Solo Wing Pixy.

After a quick analysis of the enemy fighter AWACS Eagle Eye announced the Pixy had control of the V2 and was just about ready to launch it manually.

Realizing that his only choice was to shoot down his former wingman Cipher entered combat with Pixy for the first and last time.

It was a long and grueling dog fight for both pilots, evading narrow miss after narrow miss in the snowing sky, but as always the scales were in Cipher's favor.

Quickly looping around after each shot he made he got behind Pixy and fired another until he managed to score enough damage to force Pixy to play his final hand.

"It's time" Pixy said as he activated the V2 launch.

With the V2 rocket quickly flying into the sky Pixy turned his fighter toward his buddy and said "Too bad Buddy, this twisted game needs to be reset. We'll start from 'zero' with this V2 and entrust the future to the next generation".

With the final battle still underway and the endgame quickly approaching Pixy looked to his buddy and began telling him what his beliefs were.

"Those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they're invincible. I bet you do to Buddy".

"This isn't over yet, Buddy. This is where it all starts. You know what I mean"

"There's no mercy in war, people live and people die. That's all there is to it".

Somehow Pixy had become a much better pilot managing to evade every shot Cipher made at him without even attempting to fire back, he was just buying time until the V2 reentered the atmosphere.

"You fired up yet Buddy?" Pixy asked Cipher "Come shoot me down!"

"Listen up Galm 1" AWACS Eagle Eye said "V2 has reentered the atmosphere this is you're last chance take him down".

There was only a few minutes left, this really was Cipher's last chance he had to shoot down Pixy to stop the V2.

In the heat of the moment Cipher began recalling all of the events in the war, all of the battles he was in. Hearing the voices of allies and enemies alike he began thinking about every battle he had fought in and even though he was just a mercenary his goal was to end this war. He couldn't let the V2 hit, he had to stop it.

"That kind of pilot they call of Demon Lord". He remembered that someone said that during his battle in the Round Table once, during the massive aerial battle that took place.

With all of these thoughts running through his head Cipher pressed his attack finally making hits on Pixy's craft forcing him to finally fight back, but at that time it was already too late.

Cipher fired his last missile scoring a direct hit on the right wing of Pixy's craft, the one painted red sending the craft into its deathrows.

"Come on!" Pixy yelled just after the last missile hit him.

Flying head on toward each other, the two fighters tilted their crafts to where the undersides of each fighter was facing each other as they flew by.

"This isn't over Buddy" Pixy said before he manually detonated the V2 in the middle of Earth's atmosphere.

As the nuke exploded sending out a massive light of destruction that began tearing at everything around it a second light engulfed both pilots while everything around them fell completely silent.


	2. The End Before the Beginning

In the depths of space, orbiting a seemingly desolate world of deserts and factories, two damaged fighter jets drifted aimlessly in the great void.

One was a proto-type fight with an all white body except for its right wing, which was colored red. The proto-type fighter was labeled the ADFX-02, but better known by its codename Morgan.

The other was an F-15C Eagle with a dark grey body and light black wings.

These two fighter jets had been through an exhausting dogfight with each other before the shockwave from a V2 nuke was detonated and tore through the air ripping at the two jets before a mysterious light swallowed them and their pilots.

Inside the ADFX-02, the pilot slowly began regaining consciousness. The pilot groaned as he leaned forward toward the flight stick of his fighter "What?" Turning to look over his shoulder the pilot saw the F-15C hovering behind him. Turning back around the pilot activated his radio and said "Yo Buddy, still alive?"

There was a burst of static before the radio went silent. "Hey Cipher you reading me?"

The pilot's radio came to life with a half-clear transmission "These Vanguards will lead the glorious Tarak Empire to a new age, an age where men will rule, an age where the accursed women will no longer be a threat to us".

"Tarak?" the pilot muttered "An age where men rule? Women being a threat? What's going on here?"

Seeing what was ahead of him the pilot's eyes widened "What the!" he gasped seeing the planet his fighter was hovering above "We're in space? Impossible. How is my fighter even functioning here?"

Seeing several bright flashes coming from the fleet orbiting the planet before him, the pilot recognized the flashes as explosions. There was a battle going on.

"I ordered the exhibition match to be canceled!" an extremely angered voice yelled.

"This isn't part of the exhibition!" a panicked voice responded "It's the women they're mounting a surprise attack".

"Launch all pilots immediately" the first voice ordered.

"Prime Minister, most of them are still just trainees" a third voice objected.

"I don't care; launch them out before we're all destroyed".

The largest ship in the fleet began pouring out humanoid machines known as Vanguards.

Watching the Vanguards enter combat with the attacking ships called Dreads, the pilot of the ADFX-02 decided it would be best to stay out of the battle as long as possible.

While the battle continued, the pilot performed a full systems check of his fighter and fortunately everything was at 100%. Activating his radio once again the pilot tried to contact his friend "Cipher respond! Galm 1 can you hear me?"

The pilot's transmission was intercepted by the two battling forces.

"That's not a transmission from our fleet!" the Prime Minister yelled "Track its origin".

"Is that a man's voice?" one of the female Dread pilots asked.

"We've pinpointed the origin of the transmission" a young voice announced from the bridge of the Tarak flagship. It's coming from a craft sitting just outside the battle area. Origin of the craft is unknown, but we've detected a second unknown craft nearby as well".

The Prime Minister immediately answered "Assume both to be hostile and eliminate them!"

Hearing the order, the pilot of the ADFX-02 snapped his head over to his radar and sure enough several hits showed hostile craft approaching his location. "Well that can't be good" the pilot said to himself before flying toward the Vanguards and shooting down the first while performing a wide barrel roll to evade the others.

Seeing two of the Vanguards split from the group the pilot swore when they began firing at the defenseless F-15C.

"Hang on Cipher" the pilot called as he turned to engage the Vanguards.

In the cockpit of the F-15C, the warning alarm was going off as the first of the two Vanguards targeted the Eagle and began firing.

After the two Vanguards hit the Eagle they turned to fire again, but one of the Dreads intercepted both of them and shot them down.

After the red Dread flew by the F-15C Eagle, the fighter jet's engines roared to life and the pilot called out "This is Galm for the assist, allow me to return the favor".

Pixy scoffed "So you're alive after all Cipher?"

"Pixy?" Cipher asked his radio was badly damaged scrambling his voice.

Pixy replied "I'm here buddy, but I think we should save the chit-chat for later we've got a lot of problems coming this way".

Cipher agreed "Alright, but you've still got a lot to answer for when we're done. I'll take the lead, you follow".

Waiting for the F-15C Eagle to pass by him, Pixy leveled his ADFX-02 alongside it and once again flew as Cipher's wingman. "Just like old times huh buddy?" Pixy asked after shooting down a Vanguard that Cipher damaged with his guns.

Cipher grunted "Whatever you say. Alright disperse and engage freely, whatever attacks us is a threat".

"Galm 2 roger that".

Seeing three Vanguards latch onto the red Dread, Cipher tilted his Eagle to the side and got right behind the Dread "Galm 1 to the pilot of the red fighter ahead of me. Stay steady and I'll get those off of you".

"Ok" the female pilot replied trying to keep her ship steady while the F-15C behind her gained a lock on the three Vanguards.

"Locked" Cipher announced "Galm 1 fox one".

Using the Eagle's guns Cipher expertly shot off each of the three Vanguards in quick succession. "Enemies down" he said before breaking away from the Dread to engage the other Vanguards.

"Galm 2 to Galm 1" Pixy said over the radios "We can dodge these things all day, think we should concentrate fire on the main ship and get this over with?"

"Galm 1 here. Roger, target the enemy flagship and open fire, special weapons permitted".

"Galm 2 copy".

Evading the Vanguards, Pixy easily broke through the defensive fire of the enemy flagship before using one of his Multi-Purpose Burst Missiles to rip a hole through the flagship's hull.

"Galm 2 to Galm 1, I've made a hole in the enemy flagship, but one of are friends flew in. What'd ya wanna do?"

"Hold fire on the enemy flagship for now and focus on these things" Galm 1 ordered after evading another group of Vanguards and shooting down a single one trailing behind them.

"Roger that, but I'm almost out of missiles so this needs to end soon".

"Pixy, that hole you made. Is it big enough to maneuver in?"

"It sure looks like it is. Cipher you're not thinking about going in there are you?"

Galm 1's F-15C turned toward the enemy flagship "I am, if I can damage it from the inside we can end this".

"Several enemies have entered the Ikazuchi; several sections of the ship are heavily damaged!" a panicked voice from the flagship's bridge cried.

The Prime Minister gritted his teeth "Such deplorable tactics. They're hiding in the background fire".

"Sir!" one of the bridge operators cried "The Ikazuchi is taking too much fire, if this keeps up the ship will be destroyed".

The Prime Minister reached for a lever in front of him "I must do what I have to, before our weapons fall into the hands of women everywhere. I'll separate the old from the new".

Once the lever was thrown forward, the Tarak flagship began separating into two sections, leaving most of the non-officer crew behind as the new section fled from the battle.

"Hey Cipher" Pixy called out "Whatever you're going to do in there, do it fast I don't like the looks of things from out here".

"Just make sure nothing comes in after me, I'll handle the rest" Cipher responded after lowering his airspeed and shooting his way through several walls inside the ship.

Crashing his F-15C through a wall inside the flagship, Cipher immediately opened the cockpit and jumped out only to be met by two women glaring at him while holding out their fists to him.

Seeing a ring on each of their hands glowing with a faint light, Cipher decided it'd be best to not provoke them "Remember me?" he asked in a static filled voice "Pilot that helped you out like twelve minutes ago".

The first woman was about 5'11 tall and she was wearing a revealing black dress; she had beautifully fair skin, blonde wavy hair that reached to the middle of her back and green eyes that seemed to beckon Cipher to her.

The second woman was several inches shorter standing at 5'6 and was wearing a light grey flightsuit. She had light blue hair which matched her eyes and somewhat pale skin in comparison to her comrade's. Cipher could tell just from the first look that she wasn't going to be very friendly.

"Oh wait, you're the pilot that shot those Vanguards off of me" the tall woman said after realizing who Cipher was.

Cipher nodded "Yeah that's me. Could you put down the glowing rings now? Kind of making me nervous".

The blonde woman lowered her hand, but the blue haired pilot kept her ring aimed at Cipher.

"There's really no need to be threatening me" Cipher told her "We're on the same side right?"

The blonde pilot looked down at her friend "Meia we really should continue looking for Dita, we can't afford to waste anymore time can we?"

The blue haired pilot finally lowered her hand "Alright, but let's hurry".

Watching the two women run off, Cipher sighed with relief before looking around for any indication of where he was on the ship.

"Cipher you there!" Pixy's voice cried.

"I read you Pixy" he replied "What's up?" Again, the radio in his helmet was flooded with static.

"Sorry to rush you, but you need to get out of there now. From the sounds of it, that section of the ship that ran away is about to turn around to destroy the half it left behind".

"Oh how fun" Cipher said sarcastically "How much time do I have?"

"I have no idea; you need to get out now".

"I can't" Cipher told him "One of those pilots is trapped somewhere in here, I'm going to see if I can help her".

Pixy argued "Cipher you don't have time, get out of there".

"I'll help search for her, but keep me updated on everything that's going on out there, if it looks like they're about to launch that missile let me know right away".

Pixy resigned his argument "Alright, but make it fast".

Following in the direction of the two female pilots it didn't take long for Cipher to find them standing on a catwalk in what seemed to be an engine room. "Hey you two!" Cipher called out, startling them.

"You again?" the blonde pilot asked "Just can't get enough of me can you?" she asked seductively.

Cipher gave a weak chuckle "Yeah whatever listen, that half of the flagship that flew off is turning around. Pixy thinks they're going to try and destroy this half of the ship with us on it".

The two pilots gasped at the news.

The blue haired pilot looked up to her partner "Jura we need to hurry".

The blonde nodded before they ran across the catwalk and to a ladder before climbing down.

Cipher quickly looked over his shoulder before looking back to the ladder the two women were climbing down. "Gah! This pride of mine is going to get me killed" he sighed before following after them again.

Outside the ship, Pixy was flying alongside the Dreads, mopping up the last of the Vanguards.

"That's the last of them" he announced after he shot down the final Vanguard. "Cipher, the last of these Vanguard things has been taken care of. What's your progress?"

"We're still looking for their pilot" Cipher replied "How're things looking with that missile?"

Pixy checked his radio "Judging from the radios they're almost ready to launch, you need to cut and run now".

Cipher answered "I'll try and speed things up in here. If you think you can stop them or destroy that missile go for it".

"Pixy roger".

Inside the ship, Cipher caught up with the two pilots, the blonde one, Jura was leaned against the rail of the catwalk while Meia was looking for a way to the ground floor.

In a quiet, somewhat impressed tone Jura said to her "You see that Meia, she's chasing a man".

"I'm guessing that's the pilot you're looking for?" Cipher asked walking over to them.

Jura smirked "I'm beginning to think we've got a stalker Meia".

"Stalking is such an ugly word" Cipher said "I prefer to say, obsessively shadowing".

"Jura stop wasting time, let's go" Meia demanded jumping over the railing to the ground below them and chasing after the red headed pilot.

Jura looked back to Cipher after Meia jumped down "So why do you keep following us?"

"Honestly I have no idea" Cipher replied earnestly "You saved me from those things out there, so maybe I'm just making sure you and your friends survive this".

"Honor in a man?" Jura asked "I didn't know such a thing existed".

Cipher nodded his head awkwardly "Yeah about the honor in a man part...Never mind. I don't really know what this whole Men vs. Women thing is about and I'm sure we don't have time for a history lesson. Right now we need to find your pilot and get out of here".

"Cipher come in" Pixy's voice called from Cipher's helmet radio.

Placing his hand on the side of his flight helmet, where his ear was, Cipher said "What is it Pixy?"

"Sorry to break it to you, but you're out of time. They've launched the missile and I can't stop it".

Seeing Meia return with the red haired pilot Cipher replied "They've got their pilot we're leaving now".

"Make it fast buddy".

After Pixy finished speaking, Cipher looked to the three pilots "We've got about 3 minutes to get off this ship before we all die, time to move".

Immediately turning around Cipher ran back through the corridors heading back to his F-15C Eagle with the three Dread pilots behind him.

"He's pretty fast" Jura commented, seeing how far Cipher was ahead of them.

The four pilots rounded a corner and were ambushed by two Tarak soldiers who were unaware of the missile that was about to destroy their ship.

The first soldier slammed the butt of his rifle against Cipher's helmet, but the impact was absorbed. Cipher stumbled a few steps before grabbing his M9A1 berretta pistol and jabbing the barrel of the gun into the second soldier's throat, stunning him long enough for him to shoot the soldier that hit him.

After he jabbed the soldier in the throat with the barrel of his gun, Cipher swung his arm back without looking and shot the soldier that hit him in the chest while he shin kicked the one in front of him in the stomach before kicking him the back of the knees with his other leg forcing him on one knee.

Once the second soldier was down on his knee, Cipher grabbed him by the back of his hair and pulled his head back before shooting him in the neck and then dropping his limp body.

"What are you three not trained in hand to hand combat?" he asked the three Dread pilots as they kept running.

"You move too fast for us to keep up, it's not our fault" Jura protested.

Cipher panted "Whatever you say" just as they reached his Eagle. "How far are your ships from here?"

"In the next room" Jura told him as Meia and Dita ran past him.

Cipher nodded "Alright see you on the outside".

Seeing some kind of jeep sitting against the wall, Cipher quickly sprinted over to it and used a longer rope to tie to the jeep's rear bumper and the front tire of his Eagle. Using the jeep, he taxied his fighter around. Once his fighter was in a good enough position to take off, Cipher drove the jeep out of the way and ran for his Eagle.

"Cipher you need to leave now!" Pixy demanded.

"Working on it!" Cipher yelled after climbing into his fighter.

Powering up his F-15C, Cipher began rolling down the hallway while the voices of the three Dread pilots overlapped on his radio.

"I'm stuck!" the red haired pilot yelled.

"Dita!" Meia gasped before Jura told her there was no time to help her.

Seeing open space just a few hundred yards ahead of him, Cipher squinted his eyes as the front wheel of his Eagle lifted off the floor just as the missile hit the ship and a fiery light engulfed everything.

"Cipher!" Pixy's voice cried as the missile hit the ship.

Cipher opened his eyes; he was floating in a sea of bluish light along with Pixy, the three Dread pilots and a boy he hadn't seen before.

Regardless of his situation, Cipher smiled, he knew it wasn't over yet.


	3. Galm's Revival

At the farthest end of the galaxy a bright light ripped through the darkness, spewing out two ships before vanishing as quickly as it came.

One of the ships was heavily damaged while the other was completely untouched.

Inside the undamaged ship's bridge several women were shaking the cobwebs from their head. "This doesn't look like the afterlife" the eldest of them said, clearly the captain of the group "Just where the heck are we?"

Once the aged pirate finished speaking the entire ship began shaking violently, as the crystal engulfing both of the ships began pulling them together and merging them.

"What the?" the elder pirate asked "Is the crystal trying to eat the ship?"

Inside the other ship, four people were lying on the floor.

"Why does the weird stuff only happen to me?" one of them groaned as he pushed himself up and sat back on his knees. Taking both of his hands and slamming them on both sides of his flight helmet he shook his head before looking at the body of a blue haired girl next to him. "That pilot" he muttered before gently smacking the back of his hand against her cheek "Hey wake up".

The pilot groaned as she lifted her head up and placed her hand against her face "That light" she muttered.

"Hey you ok?" the pilot asked her with a static filled voice.

"I'll be fine" the female pilot muttered before realizing that she was talking to a man "You" she gasped looking over to the pilot next to her.

"You remember me?" the man asked before standing up and holding his hand out to help her to her feet, but the pilot refused his offer and got up on her own.

"You're that man from before" she recalled.

The pilot nodded his head to the side "My name is Cipher, your Meia right?"

The blue haired pilot kept a hostile gaze on Cipher before hearing another voice call over to them "Meia a little help over here".

Across the platform stood another of the female pilots; a tall blonde wearing a revealing black dress, Jura was her name as Cipher recalled.

"Dita's trapped under this beam and I can't move it" the blonde pilot called to them.

Meia took two steps back while keeping her eyes on Cipher before turning around to look at Jura and Dita.

"There's really no need to be so suspicious of me" Cipher said to her as he walked past her and toward Jura "I have no reason to cause any harm or trouble for anyone here".

Stopping in front of Jura and the trapped pilot, Cipher looked down at the red head and asked "Are you hurt at all?"

The young red head smiled slightly "No, I'm just stuck".

"Alright" Cipher nodded before grabbing the bottom of the beam pinning Dita to the ground "Let's see if I can move it".

Slowly crouching down, Cipher stiffened his arms and began pushing up, lifting with his knees, but the beam barely budged. "Damn, this is heavy" Cipher gasped "The hell is Pixy? The one time he'd actually be useful".

"I heard that" a male voice called out to them.

Stepping out from behind a corner, a tall man standing at 6'0 exactly with brown hair and eyes, his flightsuit was tattered and scratched, but he seemed unharmed.

Pixy walked over to Cipher and grabbed the beam "Alright on three" he said before counting to three and both pilots lifted the beam just enough for Dita to crawl out from under it.

Once Dita was clear Cipher, and Pixy dropped the beam and stepped away from the three women "So what happens now?" Pixy whispered to Cipher after seeing the way Meia was glaring at them.

Cipher leaned over to him and whispered. "We play it cool for now, we don't need to start any trouble until we're sure if they're a threat to us or not".

Pixy looked at Cipher "Your comm. Sounds like its broken, might wanna get that fixed".

Cipher sighed "..eah".

"So who are you two?" the blonde female pilot asked them, the one called Jura.

Before either of the Ustio pilots answered a small ship landed in the platform and an old lady along with a group of younger women walked over to them. "Your report Meia?" the old lady asked Meia.

The blue haired pilot shifted her eyes to the side "Nothing to report captain. I'm sorry you had to come all this way".

The old lady smiled "There's no need for you to apologize, I don't think any of us can make heads or tails of the situation for now".

The old captain noticed Cipher and Pixy and regarded them both with an unconcerned expression "And who might you two be?"

Cipher answered "My name is Cipher this is Pixy. Ustio 6th Air Division 66th Air Force Unit, also known as the Galm Team".

"The Galm team?" the woman with platinum colored hair repeated.

"You know about them BC?" the captain asked.

The platinum haired woman shook her head "I only know the name. Supposedly back when people still lived on Earth, during the time of a great war there was a fighter squadron comprised of only two pilots, but most of Earth's history was lost over the years".

"What do you mean when people still lived on Earth?" Cipher asked before an endless wave of static came from his helmet.

"Argh, damn voice filter" Cipher growled through the static before placing his hands at both sides of his helmet and turning it to the side before pulling it off slowly, revealing golden brown hair that stopped just past ear level and smooth white skin. Dropping the helmet to the ground Cipher's eyes opened and she sighed "Much better without the static in my ears".

"You're…" Jura began in a surprised voice "A woman".

Cipher ran her hands over her hair to make sure it was straight "Who said I wasn't?" she asked calmly as she reached up to her shoulders and unbuckled the straps of her flightsuit before pulling the center sipper down to her waist.

While Cipher pulled her arms from her flightsuit Pixy looked back to BC "So what did you mean when you said back when people still lived on Earth?"

BC looked over to Pixy "Humans left Earth over a century ago to colonize new worlds; something happened that left the Earth unsuitable to sustain life any longer".

Pixy lowered his eyes "Something happened huh?" he repeated in a solemn tone.

Cipher had finished pushing her flightsuit down to her ankles and stepped out of it before placing her boots back on. Underneath her flightsuit she was wearing a pale blue shirt with black tight shorts that stopped right above her knees.

"Hey Pixy" she said looking to her wingman.

"Yeah?" Pixy asked looking over to Cipher before she punched him across the face, knocking him to the ground.

Immediately after Cipher hit Pixy the guards the captain brought with her tensed up and were aiming their glowing rings at both of the Ustio pilots.

Cipher stood next to Pixy and held her hand out to him as he looked up to her "That was for trying to kill me. We're even now" she told him as he took her hand and pulled himself up.

"Well I did deserve that" Pixy admitted rubbing the side of his jaw.

The old captain watched as Cipher helped Pixy up and sighed "Well it seems things keep getting more and more unusual today". Noticing a body lying at the far end of the room the captain walked over to it "Well now what do we have here?"

"This is the man that Dita was chasing" Meia told her.

Cipher slowly fell back and dropped into a sitting position "You said that people from Earth went to colonize other worlds over a century ago right?"

BC looked at her "Yes, that's correct".

Cipher sighed as she buried her face in her hands and rubbed them back over her hair "So how did Pixy and myself get here?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that" BC admitted.

Cipher sighed again as if she was thinking "Maybe it has something to do with that light I saw" she muttered to herself.

"I'm afraid you'll have to catch up on your history later my dear" the captain said turning to face Cipher and Pixy "We are pirates after all and since we're not sure what to make of the situation or the two of you I'm afraid we'll have to treat you as our prisoners for now".

"That is..." Cipher paused to breath "Acceptable". The Ustio pilot got back to her feet "Our cooperation will come under the conditions that nothing will happen to either us or our fighters".

The old captain closed her eyes "You have my word that no harm will befall either of you or your fighters as you call them".

The captain gave the guards orders to escort Cipher and Pixy to the brig along with the unconscious boy they found lying on the ground.

In the brig, Pixy was placed in a different cell from Cipher.

"Should we work on a contingency plan?" Pixy asked as he sat himself against the wall that separated his cell from Cipher's.

Sitting in the same spot on her side of the wall Cipher closed her eyes "It would probably be a good idea considering the situation, but we are outnumbered and outgunned, add to it we don't know where our fighters are and even if we found them where would we go?".

Pixy lean his head back into the wall "Yeah you're right on that, guess I just don't like being in a prison cell. I remember this one time as a kid I got caught stealing a remote control helicopter and my dad told the police to lock me in a cell for a few hours to teach me a lesson" Pixy chuckled "I haven't seen the inside of a cell since".

Cipher smiled and leaned her head forward "Already sharing stories from the past? You really don't like being locked up do you?"

Pixy grunted a laugh "Well, we are prisoners and while our captors may seem friendly we have no idea what they intend to do with us so I'm surprised you're not nervous at all".

The two pilots heard the door at the end of the hall open "Five bucks says they're here to execute one of us" Pixy joked.

Cipher scoffed "It was nice knowing you then".

Two guards as well as the tall woman with platinum hair, the one the captain called BC. They were escorting another man they found on this ship.

He was pretty tall, with long dark hair that reached the center of his back and even covered half of his face, reaching down to his chin.

He wore a uniform that Pixy didn't recognize, but he assumed he was someone left over from the raid the female pirates conducted.

BC opened the cell and the man stepped in calmly before the cell bars were reactivated.

BC stepped in front of Cipher's cell and asked her "You said your name was Cipher correct?"

"That's right" The mercenary pilot answered.

BC placed her hand against her hip "I'd like you to come with us; the captain wants to speak with you".

Cipher stood up and locked eyes with BC "And why is that?"

BC smiled "Come with us and you'll find out".

Cipher nodded "Alright, lead the way".

Using a small remote in her hand, BC unlocked the cell and Cipher stepped out before following her and the two guards down the hall.

After BC left with Cipher, Pixy looked at the other man in the cell "So who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Duelo Mcfile" he answered "You don't look familiar, did they capture you before they attacked us?"

Pixy shook his head "No, we were nearby when the raid happened. I don't even know the whole story".

"That's not a Tarak uniform you're wearing" Duelo noted, seeing the flightsuit Pixy was wearing "So who are you?"

Pixy cupped his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall "You can call me Pixy for now".

About ten minutes after being escorted from the brig, Cipher was led to what looked like some kind of briefing room. In the center of the room was a large table with a gap in its center and some kind of computer inside it.

Sitting at the end of the table was the captain of the female pirates. "Please have a seat won't you?" she said to Cipher.

Cipher calmly sat in the seat in front of her and stared at the captain across the table while BC walked over to the captain and the two guards stood behind Cipher.

Cipher shifted her eyes to BC and immediately back to the captain "You sub-commander said you wanted to talk, so…talk".

The captain gazed at Cipher "How did you know BC is my second in command?"

"The way she walks" Cipher answered "The way she carries herself and speaks, it's in her eyes and her stance. She's a woman of high rank and authority; so far I've only seen two on this ship who carry themselves in such a way. Meia and her, since you're the captain I guessed that BC was second in command over Meia".

The captain smiled "I see, quite observant of you. So why don't you begin by telling us who you are. You're obviously a soldier of some sort, but I've never seen that uniform before or the insignia you wear".

Cipher looked at the left breast pocket on her flightsuit where the orange dog emblem that signified the Galm team rested. Looking back to the captain, she answered "My name is Fiona Amagi, but I go by my callsign Cipher. I was a mercenary pilot for the Ustio military during the Belkan War in 1995".

"1995?" the captain repeated "That was over a century ago my dear, are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Cipher closed her eyes and exhaled "I assure you my head is fine and so is my mental health. I fought in the Belkan War and if it really is over a hundred years in the future then something really abnormal happened to me and Pixy for us to be here".

The captain looked right into Cipher's eyes once again "If what you say is true and you really did fight in a war that ended over a hundred years ago. I must say you are taking your situation surprisingly well".

"In all honesty captain" Cipher began "I'm really hoping that this is all just a dream and that I'll wake up in an infirmary somewhere back in Ustio, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. What's going on here is definitely real and no situation can be dealt with without understanding it".

The captain mused "That's a pretty logical and cool headed mind set you have, pretty rare for someone so young".

Cipher merely nodded her head to the side.

The captain continued "Now what about your friend, Pixy I believe you said his name was".

Cipher resumed "His name is Larry Foulke, callsign Solo Wing Pixy. He's…was my wingman during the war. We both went through a lot and even after most of our allies were shot down over the course of the war, somehow we continued to survive. Together the two of us made up the Ustio 6th Air Division 66th Air Force Unit. We were called the Galm Team".

"Yes I remember you telling us that earlier when we first met" the captain noted "It is pretty strange that two pilots who claim to be from Earth show up such a long time after the human race left the planet behind".

Cipher agreed "It's definitely strange, but I find something just as strange".

"And what might that be?" the captain asked.

"That raid you carried out" Cipher began "When it ended and that missile impacted the ship I was on along with some of your pilots, we were all engulfed by a bright light before ending up here. Since we're not under attack at the moment I gather that we're no longer in the same area are we?"

The captain was impressed at Cipher deduction skills "You're quite right. Whatever that light was it transported us to an unknown location in the galaxy. As of right now we still don't know our exact location, but I have people working on that".

"That light that swallowed us" Cipher said "Was the same light that swallowed me and Pixy before we got caught in the middle of your raid".

Both the captain and BC eyed Cipher "Are you sure about that?" the captain asked.

Cipher nodded "Very. The light we all saw was the exact same light that swallowed Pixy and me during our dogfight".

"You're dogfight?" BC asked "The two of you were fighting?"

Cipher nodded again "Yes, after the war ended and the peace treaty was signed a terrorist group emerged and attacked the peace conference. They called themselves a World with No Boundaries. Just before the war ended Pixy defected from the Ustio Air Force and vanished. He later resurfaced at the final battle; he was flying for the terrorist group. He shot down the pilot that replaced him as my wingman. The only way to truly end all the fighting was to finish him off, but before I could that light swallowed both of us".

"So that's why you hit him back there?" BC asked, referring to earlier when Cipher punched Pixy before they agreed to be taken prisoner.

Cipher smiled "Well he did try to kill me after all".

"You're awfully chummy with the man who tried to kill you" the captain noted.

Cipher dropped her smile "Well I don't really hold grudges, plus he was my partner for most of the war. He was just fighting for what he believed in, good and evil are just matters of perspective so to me there was no good or bad side. He was fighting for his beliefs that's all there was too it".

"And what about you?" the captain asked "What were your beliefs?"

"I didn't have any" Cipher replied "Like I said. I was a mercenary pilot; I was in it for the money. I may not like war, I may find the thought of it sickening, but I'm a fighter pilot one of the best. I was hired by the Republic of Ustio and I flew for them as long as they continued to pay me".

"I see" the captain responded "Well I think its time we gather everyone together then. BC bring the other prisoners to the lounge will you?"

The sub commander nodded "Right away captain".

BC and the two guards left for the brig, leaving Cipher alone with the captain.

"So what happens now?" Cipher asked as the captain stood up.

"Well" the captain began before she smiled at Cipher "For now I think I'll keep you around, if you're as good as you say you are you might be useful".

As the captain walked over to her, Cipher also stood up "Well if Earth really is a hundred years behind us, I suppose that would mean my contract with Ustio is long past its expiration. So that would mean my services are available".

The captain chuckled "Would you follow me please? I'd like to go somewhere more comfortable".

Back in the brig, the unconscious boy that was found nearby Pixy, Cipher and the three female pilots had finally awakened. "Where am I?" he screamed after realizing he was in a cell.

"You're awake" a calm voice said from the shadowed corner.

"Who's there?" the boy gasped, snapping his head to the side.

"My name is Duelo Mcfile" the young man in the corner replied "Do you have a name as well Mr. third class citizen?"

"Don't make fun of me!" the boy snapped "My name is Hibiki Tokai! And I'm not just another third class citizen".

"Well you're definitely a first class loud mouth" Pixy said from his corner of the cell. He was lying on the floor with his hands cupper behind his head "You can talk all you want, but could you not yell while you do it?"

"And you are you supposed to be?" Hibiki asked him.

"My name is Pixy, that's all you need to know kid".

At that moment, the white egg shaped object in front of Hibiki began shaking before it popped up and sprouted small arms and legs. "Pyoro. Who am I? Where am I?" it asked while scratching at the side of its shell.

"What the hell?" Pixy muttered seeing the small robot.

Right away the robot's screen, which was also its face began buzzing in a wave of static and the robot shook a little before returning to normal.

"Want me to fix you or something?" Hibiki asked it. The robot didn't seem to like that comment. It retaliated by screaming "Don't make fun of me! I'm not broken!"

"Well it sure as gotten noisy down here" BC said as she stepped in front of the cell.

Seeing the ship's sub commander and her guards Hibiki screamed "Ah women! What do you want? Why are you here!"

"Will you please stop yelling" Pixy demanded calmly before sitting up and turning around "What is it now? Come to execute us?"

BC smiled "Nothing of the sort, I'd just like you all to come with us is all".

Hibiki glared at her "Yeah you say that, but you really want to eat my guts don't you!"

"Eat your…guts?" BC repeated while her two guards began laughing. The sub commander smiled again, almost in a seductive manner "Before we eat I'd really like for you to come with us".

After opening the cell, BC waited for her guards to place binding cuffs on each of the three men before they escorted them out of the brig and to another deck of the ship.

A while later they arrived in a large lounge like room with a couch and table in the center.

Waiting in the room was the ship's captain and sitting at the table was a woman in a light brown flightsuit with short golden brown hair, she was resting her head against her fist with her eyes closed.

"Hey buddy" Pixy said after seeing her "Still alive?"

Cipher opened her eyes and looked at Pixy "For now, hopefully it'll stay that way".

Pixy, Hibiki and Duelo were told to sit on the couch in the middle of the room just as another door opened and Meia walked in with another prisoner.

"What's up, you found another?" BC asked her.

"Yes, this one was hiding in the platform" Meia replied.

"My, my" the captain said after assessing the prisoners "I knew we captured some prisoners, but they're all just kids".

"Hey!" the tiny white robot yelled before jumping over to the captain's side "Its interrogation time. I'll tell you everything!"

The captain smiled "My how nostalgic, a little NAVI robot. And it seems like this one still functions".

"A Navi what?" Cipher asked looking down at the white robot.

The captain looked over to the Ustio pilot "A NAVI robot. There primarily used by electricians and mechanics to help with wiring in small places, but they have other uses as well".

"I'm not following here" Duelo said.

Hibiki cut in "Yeah isn't this a men's ship?"

"Yes and before that it was used for colonization" the captain told them "You really don't know anything do you?" she asked after seeing their surprise "This ship is one of many that departed from a planet called Earth. This was a really long time ago before your fathers were born. Fortunately your cowardly grandfather severed this section of the ship and ran away into the night".

The NAVI robot continued the story "They overhauled the old battleship and built in residential quarters".

"And now we find ourselves back on this battleship" the captain finished "This is our business you know so we'll gladly take the ship, the only question is what should we do with all of you?"

"We should get rid of them" Meia suggested "Things are already unstable enough".

"There's no need to be hasty" the captain told her "We'll carefully consider how we'll want to cook these guys up".

"Cook them up?" Cipher muttered.

A guard entered the room and handed the captain a bowl of red liquid before standing against the wall at the back of the room.

"So that long haired boy is a doctor?" the captain asked looking at Duelo "So what abut the other one?"

"He's an attacker" Meia replied, referring to Hibiki.

"Hey now wait a!" Hibiki protested before the blonde haired man elbowed him in the stomach.

Meia continued "I saw him climbing into a Vanguard".

Cipher asked "Vanguards are those machine things that attacked us right?"

The captain nodded "That's correct. While we're on that subject I must say you and your wingman handled them quite nicely".

"Well there is a reason we were called on for the important missions" Cipher told her "Right Pixy".

Pixy tilted his head to the side and bumped his eyebrows "More or less".

BC's communicator beeped and she held it up to her ear "What's wrong?"

"There's something approaching" a voice said from the other side.

"Is it male reinforcements?" BC asked.

"It's a UFO!" Dita's voice cheered.

The entire ship shook violently causing every except Cipher and Pixy to fall. "What the hell1?" Pixy yelled "Did something just hit us?"

"We're under attack!" the same voice yelled from BC's communicator.

"Dreads are going out!" Meia said before running out of the room.

"Parfet can you get us to move?" BC asked.

A new voice answered over the radio "I can't control this thing at all. The automatic defenses aren't working either, there's nothing I can do right now".

"BC go take control of the bridge" the captain ordered just before a loud crashing sound roared inside the room and one of the guards screamed.

The backside of the wall and ceiling had collapsed on one of the two guards trapping her.

"Hold on I'll get you out!" the guard panicked before removing the debris from her friend.

"No you mustn't move her!" Duelo yelled before jumping over the couch "You don't have to worry about me I'm a doctor" he said after the guard glared at him. "I just want to see what I can do for her. Help me move this away" he said slowly moving the fallen ceiling debris from the trapped guard.

Cipher watched Duelo helping the guard and looked to Pixy "Larry!"

Pixy looked at Cipher and nodded "Right let's go".

"Captain!" Cipher said "Where can we find our fighters? We'll help you fight".

"Well now it certainly appears that you could use some help here" the blonde boy said "While the fact remains that we are enemies right now we have to make our survival the top priority and well…you may want to utilize my skills in the matter" the boy stood up and straightened his collar "You see the truth is that I'm actually a helmsman".

"Oh?" the captain hummed "So the gentleman claims he's a helmsman?"

"Warning!" the white robot screeched "This one's trying to pull something!"

"Pyoro you keep quiet now" the captain told the robot "So what do you propose then?" she asked the blonde helmsman.

The boy casually stepped forward "Well I suggest we call for a ceasefire, temporarily of course until this crisis has been averted".

"That's not a bad idea" the captain agreed.

"Glad you see it my way" the helmsman chuckled "How about we shake on it?" he asked extending his hand, but the captain gently smacked it away.

"I've no wish to get chummy; you'll still be treated as one of our prisoners".

"I can't do anything here!" Duelo yelled "Take me to sick bay!"

The captain turned her head to BC "Alright then, BC take the two pilots to the hangar and the attacker to the warehouse" she looked back to the blonde helmsman "You come with me to the bridge" she looked at the guard in the back "Take the doctor to the infirmary and assist him as needed".

Cipher and Pixy followed BC out of the lounge and to the hangar where they found their respective fighters.

"I really hope you're as good as you said you were" BC said to Cipher before leaving to return Hibiki to the brig.

"Let's go Cipher" Pixy said as he ran to his ADFX-02.

Once inside her F-15C, Cipher did a quick systems check to make sure her fighter was fully functional. "Everything is a green light on my end, what about you Pixy?"

"I'm good to go, just say the word" Pixy responded.

Cipher took a quick breath "Alright Galm Team launch!"

The engines of both fighters roared to life as they flew out of the hangar doors and into space, heading right for the three Dreads that were already engaged with the enemy.

Seeing the enemy on his radar Pixy said "Enemy sighted, waiting on your command Cipher".

Cipher also spotted the enemy and narrowed her eyes "Alright Pixy split up and engage at will if you have any special weapons left keep them locked for now".

"Pixy roger, time to dive into the fireworks".

The two mercenary pilots joined the battle and with swift ease shot down several of the unknown enemies within seconds of joining the fray.

"Those fighters!" Jura gasped after seeing the two fighter jets zoom by her Dread".

"It's two of the good aliens!" Dita cried.

"You three look like you could use some help" Pixy laughed after shooting down an enemy chasing Dita.

Jura moaned "I'll take all the help I can get, these things sure are persistent".

"Pixy at your six watch it!" Cipher yelled before being hit by one of the enemies "Damn bugs, get lost!"

Quickly pushing her flightstick forward and immediately pulling it back while decelerating, Cipher performed a steep loop the loop and got behind her pursuer to shoot it down "Cipher, splash one more".

"Pixy here, I just bagged another bandit".

"There's so many of them" Cipher yelled "They just keep coming".

"They're spewing out of that thing back there" Pixy yelled "That giant thing has to be some kind of carrier, the more we shoot these things down the more they just keep coming, if we want to end this we should attack that".

Cipher agreed "Alright, concentrate fire on the enemy carrier…or whatever that thing is".

"Pixy roger that".

Back on the bridge, the helmsman, Bart had stepped out to the end of some kind of portal and recognized it.

"Well go on" the captain told him "You do know how to use it right?"

"Of course I do" Bart replied sheepishly "It's just…well how do I put this? This is a secret weapon of our military". Just then the portal sprang to life and swallowed Bart whole.

"My, that's some weapon" the captain noted with a surprised expression.

Once inside the helmsman portal, Bart began looking around, there were no visible controls or anything, but he could see everything going on outside the ship and panicked when the enemy began firing at it.

Bart waved his arms screaming for the enemy to go away and the ship moved.

"So the ship moved, maybe he does know what he's doing" the captain muttered just as giant screens of the three Dread pilots appeared high above the bridge.

"The intensity of the enemy's attack is increasing" Meia told her "Its getting more difficult to defend ourselves, at this rate we may have to retreat".

"Reinforcements are on the way" the captain told her "But we don't know how helpful they'll be".

"More reinforcements?" Meia asked.

A Vanguard launched from the ship with Hibiki as its pilot, the young teen screamed when the enemy immediately turned its focus against him and began attacking.

"What is that?" Jura asked after seeing the embarrassing way the Vanguard was being tossed around.

"It must be the other good alien!" Dita cheered.

"That's really our reinforcements?" Meia asked herself.

Shaking the daze from his head, Hibiki activated one of the hidden weapons of the Vanguard, but its ammo supply had never been filled. "No ammo!" the pilot gasped "Alright we'll try this then!" he yelled as the Vanguard's sword sprang from its side.

Quickly cutting down several enemies, Hibiki opened a straight path toward the enemy's main system.

"The enemy main system has stopped its advance!" one of the bridge operators announced "It's targeting the Vanguard!"

Dita followed the Vanguard, completely mesmerized by it "Meia can you see this, the good alien is helping us!"

"Dita pull back now" Meia ordered.

"Cipher I don't like the looks of this" Pixy said "We should be ready to pull back if this goes south".

Cipher didn't respond, she watched the Vanguard fly closer and closer to the enemy's main system before several of the cube shaped enemies slammed into it and held it down.

"Just a little closer" Hibiki muttered "Just a little closer and I'll be there. I just need enough power to take one last step…I can't lose!" he roared before several arching spikes shot out from the enemy's main system and impaled both the Vanguard and Dita's Dread before an explosion erupted around them.

"That little fool" Jura said as she closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Pixy turned to look at his flight lead "Cipher we should pull back we don't have the ammo to deal with that thing".

"Not yet" Cipher muttered "This isn't over".

"What?" Pixy asked before something began to emerge from the ball of molten steel in front of them.

Emerging from the fireball was a giant blue machine. It was humanoid in shape and had neon green joints with dual shoulders mounted cannons that ran the length of its body.

The new machine immediately began flying toward the enemy's main system and Cipher quickly flew forward to shoot down the remaining enemies before they could get in its way.

The enemy's main system closed is mouth and attempted to retreat, but the new machine grabbed hold of it and pried its mouth back open before its dual cannons slid up and mounted themselves on its shoulders aimed directly inside the enemy before firing.

The high powered lasers easily ripped through the enemy destroying it instantly and ending the battle.

"What was that?" Pixy gasped "Cipher?"

Cipher gazed at the giant machine, in complete awe at its fire power. "What have we gotten into this time?" she asked herself.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.  
><strong> Sorry it took so long to update, I really needed a break from the whole fanfiction scene for a while.

I decided to make Cipher a girl in this story because I think it would make for a more interesting story than keeping him male.

Anyway hope you enjoyed.


	4. Friends No More

Amidst a debris field from a recent battle, two ships were behind held together by a growing crystal. Inside a conference room on the top ship, three women were holding a meeting to discuss their situation.

The ship's sub-commander, the one called BC was giving a report on the ships and the crystal covering them "Our ship has been completely swallowed by the crystal. The bridge, residential quarters and engine room have all been engulfed. However the dread platform and Reg Central have suffered no damage. We're currently in the process of cleaning up and installing the new database. The spread of peksis pragma has reached its peak for the moment. The bridge has stopped sliding and is now situated over the garden. For now it seems all changes have ceased your report Meia".

Meia, the blue haired, stoic pilot who lead the dread teams picked up from there "Thank you Buzam. The three dreads that were modified by the peksis no longer fit in our standard platforms, therefore we modified the cargo hold on the men's ship to hold them, upon our modifications I've discovered that this ship hasn't been used for quite some time, the wires and circuits are all decayed and useless".

BC continued "The main problem is our location, it may be hard to believe, but we're a long way from Mejere. We're actually in a whole different nebula, by our calculations it'll take us approximately 270 days to return to Mejere".

The captain was fanning herself with an old paper fan "Just what did we do to deserve getting swept across the galaxy?" she looked over to Meia "Any word about the enemy that attacked us?"

"Not yet" Meia told her "My team was understaffed so I sent some volunteers to investigate the debris field".

"Volunteers?" the captain asked "Who?"

Out in space, one of the space fighters called dreads was anchored against the remains of the enemy that attacked them two days ago. The two investigators were Dita, the youngest of the dread pilots and Gascogne the manager of Reg Central.

"What do you think we'll find Ms. Gasco?" Dita asked as the two began their investigation.

"Beats me, but I'm sure we'll find something" Gascogne said before closing her eyes "And remember it's not Gasco its Gascogne!"

On the ship's bridge, the three women who worked as the ship's operators were feeling the effects of the off line air conditioning.

The blonde one set down her fan and contacted the engineering department "Its 82 degrees in here what's going on down there?"

"Its over 86 down here, we're doing all we can" a single engineer replied before returning to work.

In the brig, a small team of women were spraying the four men down with water. The one who called himself Duelo held his ground with Pixy while Bart and Hibiki complained and tried to avoid the water.

Cipher was sitting against the wall in the next cell twirling and flipping a small knife between her fingers.

"So those are the only men left?" the captain asked as she watched the men and Cipher from a camera in the conference room.

"Yes" BC replied "Until we can fully figure out the ship's systems we'll have to rely on them".

The captain agreed as she recalled the way Bart was swallowed by a mysterious light before helming the ship and then thrown out after the battle ended, she then looked to the second camera that showed Cipher, sitting in her cell "This one however" the captain said "There's something about her".

"I agree captain" BC said "She was very open with us when you spoke to her, but I get an uneasy feeling around her. The look in her eyes, it's almost like she was looking past me and at my death".

The captain tapped her finger at a deck of cards in front of her before drawing the top one "The Queen of Swords?" the captain asked herself "Strong, independent, logical and calculating. Perceptive, intelligent and quick-witted, determined and ruthless in the pursuit of your goals" the captain looked back at the monitor showing Cipher "She's very perceptive" she noted recalling how easily Cipher deducted that BC was the ship's sub commander and Meia was the leader of the dread teams "That woman could be a powerful ally if we choose to keep them around".

BC looked at the monitor showing the mercenary pilot as she began throwing her knife in the air and catching it by the blade "We both saw her piloting skills and that man she called Pixy. They're both well trained pilots, but neither of them seemed concerned considering their situation".

The captain looked at the monitor showing the men's cell and drew another card from the deck "Hmm the chariot. To obtain victory you must work with others, not against them. Collaboration and compromise, changing one's own behavior is more likely to succeed than changing another's".

BC looked at her captain "Captain you don't really believe in that stuff do you?"

The captain smiled at her subordinate "You'd be surprised how many times I've seen these cards read someone BC". She looked back to the monitors "Those two pilots seem to get along, but I can sense some faint hostility between them". Magno drew a third card and flip it over "The lovers huh? It's reversed".

"Is that bad?" BC asked curiously.

"It's certainly not good" the captain replied holding the card between the two monitors showing Cipher and Pixy in the men's cell "A dissolving relationship, breakdown of communication and understanding". The captain set the cards down "Usually that card signifies the beginning of a relationship and fulfillment from working together with another".

BC looked at the monitors again "So you're saying they won't stay friendly with each other for long?"

The aged pirate narrowed her eyes "I think we should watch both of them carefully, keep an eye on them more than the other prisoners. They're both hiding something".

"It was so unnerving!" Bart said as he told a fake story to the other men in his cell.

Duelo allowed the helmsman to continue his story to humor him while Hibiki was in the corner daydreaming and Pixy sitting against the wall directly opposite of Cipher.

"_This sucks"_ Hibiki thought _"I thought I had finally proven my existence and I get stuck here"_.

Bart walked over to him and brought him back to reality "Hey, what happened back there?" he asked him "Who made that Vanguard and why did it combine with that Mejerian fighter?"

"How should I know?!" Hibiki snapped "Forget that, you think I'm going to forgive you for socking me earlier?"

The helmsman backed away and held his hands up "Now, now I was only thinking of your best interest".

"You really don't know when to shut up do you?" Hibiki continued to yell "There's enough hot air in here as it is!"

"He's simply worried" Duelo told him "He's trying to take his mind off of our situation through conversation. Try to forgive him".

Bart looked at the young doctor amazed, "Wow you are sharp" he said "So what do you think? With your intellect and my superior speaking skills we should have no problem taking the ship back from those…"

"Would you repeat that please?" a stern female voice asked from outside the cell.

The ship's second in command, BC was standing outside the cell eavesdropping on their conversation.

Seeing the sheepish look on Bart's face, Pixy smirked as the helmsman chuckled weakly "Oh nothing important, we were just joking around is all".

The sub commander smiled almost evilly "I'd like to hear your jokes. You'll come with us won't you?"

Bart gave an even weaker chuckle "I'd love to as long as it's of a social nature".

BC deactivated the cell bars and as Bart stepped out Pixy looked up at him and said, "Nice knowing you". That seemed to add to Bart's worry as he quietly began squealing as the guards escorted him out of the brig.

Pixy kept his grin and looked over his shoulder at the wall he sat against "So what do you think they're going to do to him?"

Cipher answered from the other side of the wall "Well he's a helmsman and the ship hasn't moved since that battle. I would say they haven't figured out how to fly the ship so they want him to tell them or do it for them".

Pixy leaned his head down to the floor still smiling "You're staying calm as always. Since I've known you I haven't seen anything faze you".

Cipher tossed her knife in the air once again and caught it before flipping it closed "The seven craters" she said to him casually "The seven craters caused by Belka something like that…I'll admit it scared me when I found out what happened that day".

Pixy lowered his head "First the complete bombing and destruction of an entire town and then seven nukes dropped just to stop the allies from advancing…things had gotten too out of hand".

"Is that why you defected?" Cipher asked him.

Pixy looked back over his shoulder as if he was staring right through the wall and at Cipher's back "Yeah. You remember Joshua Bristow? The flight lead of Osea's Wizard squadron. A World With No Boundaries was his idea. After the aerial battle in the Round Table he sent me a message about his plan. At first I was going to try and talk him out of it, but after what happened in Hoffnung and then at the Waldreich Mountains I couldn't take it anymore".

Cipher turned her head, slightly looking over her shoulder "So you tried to kill me and defected because you were scared of what Belka did?"

Pixy continued "Honestly Cipher; I don't know why I attacked you. I guess I did it because I didn't want you following after me. Would you have tried to stop me if I didn't?"

Cipher looked down at her feet and she curled one of her knees into her chest "Probably not".

"Hey you!" Hibiki yelled looking at Pixy.

The mercenary pilot ignored the young teen and sighed "Be honest with me Cipher. Why didn't you chase after me that day?"

Cipher didn't answer at first, she recalled the day Pixy defected from Ustio and turned on her before fleeing from the combat zone, she could feel mixed emotions within her mostly shock and betrayal. "My fighter was too damaged" she said at last.

Pixy didn't believe her response, but Hibiki called over to him again.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"What?" Pixy answered angrily.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hibiki asked him "Why the hell are you being so friendly with that woman?"

Pixy didn't answer him he looked back over his shoulder to continue talking to Cipher, but the ship shook as it started up, throwing the four prisoners around in their cells.

Once the shaking stopped, Pixy groaned as he got to his feet and rolled his shoulders back "I guess that means motor mouth started the ship" he looked at the wall separating his cell from Cipher's "Yo buddy, still alive?"

"I'm fine" Cipher replied as she sat back against the wall of her cell.

"How long do you think they're going to keep us in these cells?" Pixy asked.

"Probably until they decide we're not a threat to them" Duelo told him.

"Is that all?" Pixy asked sarcastically, sitting himself against the wall again "Well Guess I'll take a nap then".

"A nap?" Hibiki asked "Are you crazy? We have to take back this ship!"

"Good idea" Pixy told him "Alright here's the plan. Duelo and I will wait here while you overpower the numerous women on this ship and clear a way to the hangar for us. Drinks will be on me when we get out of here".

The three men heard Cipher chuckle from her cell putting Hibiki even more on edge, "Just what are you laughing at?! You're locked up to in case you've forgotten".

Cipher looked up at the ceiling of her cell and then to the bars trapping her inside "I like it in here".

Pixy smirked after seeing Hibiki's face fault at Cipher's response.

BC returned to the brig "You're called Duelo correct?" she asked the doctor "It's your turn to come with me".

After letting Duelo out, BC and her two guards escorted him to the infirmary where one of the ship's bridge operators was resting.

BC explained the operator's condition "She's running a fever and it won't go down. We'd like you to take a look at her".

"Interesting" Duelo replied "I was under the impression that your medical technology was fairly advanced".

BC smirked at the doctor's comment "An elite soldier huh? You probe for information at every chance. Very well, approximately 90% of our ship's systems are offline right now, including the medical systems".

Duelo smiled and agreed to examine the patient.

Not long after Duelo began his examination the infirmary lost power. The doctor quickly snatched the guard's communicator from her belt and asked for engineering to prioritize restoring power to the medical bay.

"Hey we've got our own problems" one of the engineers replied "I'm sorry, but I can't read men's language".

"If I were there I could read it for you" Duelo said as he looked at BC through the corner of his eye.

The sub-commander had an amused, seductive smile on her face as she tilted her head "Go right ahead" she told him.

Back in the brig, Pixy and Cipher were passing the time with each other in a rather peculiar way, much to Hibiki's annoyance.

"Bishop one to D6 take pawn" Pixy said as he wrote down what he said in a tiny notepad.

Cipher had also written down what Pixy had said before replying "Rook to D6 take Bishop".

"How long are you two going to keep this up?" Hibiki asked angrily "For that matter, just what the hell are you doing anyway?"

Pixy looked over to the young pilot and answered in a rather cold tone "We're playing chess to pass the time".

"And since we don't have a board or any pieces" Cipher continued "We play in our heads".

Pixy finished "Chess takes a lot of concentration and intelligence to play normally, but when you have to visual the entire game, pieces and all in your head it makes it much harder which is why we're writing down the moves so we can keep track of which piece is where and what's been taken".

Hibiki narrowed his eyes "You two sure are strange, playing games at a time like this".

"Well there's not much else to do" Pixy told him before making his move "Queen to D6 take Rook".

"Knight to C2, check" Cipher responded immediately.

"Rook to C2, take Knight" Pixy replied.

Cipher smirked, "Queen to E3, check".

"Rook to E2, block".

"Bishop 2 to G3, checkmate".

Pixy sighed with a smile as he dropped his notepad to the floor "Well played Cipher".

The ship began shaking again throwing the three pilots around before the power went out and the shaking stopped.

"Helmsman my ass" Cipher growled as she pushed herself up from the floor "Not even a rookie pilot could suck that bad".

Dusting her legs off, Cipher noticed that the laser bars trapping her in the cell had gone offline and stepped outside the cell and in front of Pixy's cell.

"Well, must really suck to be you right now" the mercenary pilot mocked as she stood in front of her wingman's cell.

Pixy got up and walked over to Cipher stopping in front of the bars separating them "How'd you get out?"

Cipher shrugged "The bars to my cell went down, looks like you're still stuck in there though" she continued to taunt before the doors opened and BC entered the brig alone.

"My a bit troublesome aren't you?" she asked Cipher calmly after seeing she was outside her cell.

"Not really" Cipher told her "The power went out down here and my cell opened, I just figured I'd get a quick stretch".

BC placed a fist against her hip and smiled "Well it's your lucky day then; I'd like to request your help".

Cipher leaned her shoulder against the wall and raised an eyebrow "Really now, with what exactly?"

BC began to explain the current situation "The ship started itself up and I'm afraid we left our reconnaissance team behind, also two of our crew are trapped inside one of the elevators".

"So you want me to go rescue them and then retrieve your recon team?" Cipher asked "I can do that".

"Not exactly" BC cut her off "Due to the ship's current condition all of our hangars except the Vanguard platform are currently offline. I'll be sending him out" she gave Hibiki a quick look "To retrieve Dita and Gascogne, I want you and your wingman to help get Barnette and Jura out of the elevator".

Cipher slowly bobbed her head for a few seconds "Alright, but I've already given your captain one freebie, after this I want to speak with her regarding the price of my services".

BC gave Cipher an intrigued look to which the pilot answered "I'm a mercenary. I don't work for free".

"Very well" BC agreed "I'll let the captain know you wish to speak with her, but not until you help Barnette and Jura".

"Deal" Cipher agreed as the sub-commander opened Pixy and Hibiki's cell and released their restraints.

Hibiki stepped out of the cell demanding, "Give me one good reason why I should help you".

"Because they'll probably shoot you if you don't" Pixy told him "How's that for a good reason?"

Hibiki's face went pale when he saw the musing look on BC's face after Pixy's comment and slowly followed behind the sub-commander with a frightened look in his eyes.

"You enjoyed that didn't you" Cipher asked her wingman who smirked and nodded, "Oh yeah".

After BC left with Hibiki, the former Ustio mercenaries left as well, quickly making their way up a few decks per BC's instructions before arriving at the elevator shaft where a single guard was waiting.

The guard didn't react much when she saw Cipher, but immediately raised her fist with a glowing ring on her index finger when she saw Pixy.

"I feel sorry for you Pixy" Cipher said casually "Wherever you go now you'll be greeted by women who look at you like some kind of zombie and willing to kill you on sight…forever alone" she joked coldly.

Pixy laughed dejectedly as he turned his eyes away "You think if I told here I'm here to help she'd lower that thing?"

Cipher quickly grabbed Pixy's shoulder and turned him around before huddling next to him "Alright here's what you do I've dealt with this situation before" she began before quickly looking over her shoulder at the guard who was still aiming her ring at them "Ok you need to let her know that you won't be intimidated, so you need a fierce gaze and I mean a really fierce gaze, let your eyes tell her that you're not going to back down".

"Uh Cipher" Pixy muttered "Now's not really a good time for" Cipher cut him off.

"And once you've made it clear that you refuse to back down, you make a sudden move. GO!" she ordered before spinning Pixy around and pushing him toward the guard who quickly stepped to the side and lined her ring on level with Pixy's forehead.

Pixy stopped himself against the wall and looked back at Cipher "Are you trying to get me shot?" he asked calmly.

Cipher held her hand up with her index finger and thumb barley apart from each other "Maybe a little" she told him before looking at the guard "The commander asked us to help out, two pilots are trapped down there right?"

The guard cautiously lowered her hand before nodding at Cipher "Yes, Barnette and Jura are stuck two decks down between floors, the door aren't working and we can't pry them open".

"Find us some rope or something, we'll get them out" Cipher told her.

The guard gave both mercenary pilots an unsure look before leaving to find something to help them.

"Alright now that she's gone" Cipher said before gently slapping the back of her hand on Pixy's shoulder "Give me your jacket".

Pixy bumped his eyebrows up as he took his jacket off "Be careful" he told her as she took the jacket and wrapped her hands inside it before bracing herself.

Cipher looked back at Pixy one last time and said, "If I'm not back in five minutes, just wait longer". Cipher then jumped into the elevator shaft and grabbed hold of the massive cable used to pulley the elevator up and down before slowly sliding down, using her wingman's jacket to protect her hands.

Reaching the disabled elevator, Cipher let go of the pulley cable and opened the top hatch to the elevator to help the trapped pilots.

"You?" Jura gasped after seeing Cipher above her.

"Why are you out of your cell?" Barnette asked suspiciously.

Cipher gave the green haired pilot an expressionless look before turning her attention to Jura and reaching her hand down to her "Alright let's go" she said to the blonde pilot who gladly took her hand.

After pulling Jura out of the elevator, Cipher told her to start climbing the maintenance ladder at the side of the shaft before she pulled Barnette out as well.

"Thanks" Barnette said in a half hostile tone "Now why are you out of your cell?"

Cipher kept her neutral expression as she answered "Not exactly the thanks I was looking for, but whatever. Your commander asked me and Pixy to get the two of you out, now climb!"

Barnette began climbing the maintenance ladder as well with Cipher right behind her.

Pixy waited at the doorway for them, helping them out as they reached him. Jura gave him a seductive look as he helped her; Barnette slapped his hand away and pulled herself out.

"I'm starting to get really confused Cipher" he said as he helped his former flight out.

"About your sexuality?" Cipher asked him before her foot tripped at the edge of the doorway and she knocked Pixy down, falling on top of him.

Looking directly into Cipher's eyes Pixy kept a cool demeanor despite the fact that their lips were barely an inch from each other, "Didn't know you were that into me buddy".

Cipher frowned as she got up and roughly pulled him to his feet "Keep dreaming Larry" she told him before Barnette and the guard from before held a gun and laser ring at them.

There was an intense silence between them before the speakers in the hall and across the ship turned on. "The captain and I have concluded our meeting" BC began reporting the situation from the bridge "We've decided to inform the entire crew of our current situation. Upon analyzing the data from the enemy debris we've gained some intelligence on our enemy. I'd like you all to take a look at this image".

Every monitor across the ship showed an image of a planet covered in giant gears and machinery "This is the enemy's home planet, we don't know its exact location, but we have determined that they have a significant amount of firepower. They attacked us because we are in their territory and they believe our presence to be hostile. We can expect to see more of this enemy as we continue our long journey back to Mejere".

"But that isn't all" the commander continued "We've also learned that the enemy has launched a full scale operation for the destruction of both Mejere and the men's world of Tarak. Our faceless enemy is for some unknown reason planning on completely wiping out the two worlds".

The captain continued from there "We are pirates and as such our loyalties are not bound to either world however it's certainly not in our best interest to let an unknown enemy to destroy our potential customers. Therefore I intend to reach our home system before our enemy and inform both worlds of this crisis. In order for us to be successful in this we must incorporate the men we have captured into our crew".

After hearing that, Cipher looked at Barnette and the guard and harshly demanded, "Get those things out of my face" before she walked away leaving the shocked pirates and Pixy behind.

"There are still many things we do not understand yet" the captain continued "Such as this ship and that large machine, but I'm sure we'll learn more about these things one piece at a time as we continue our journey. I expect the complete cooperation of the entire crew that is all!"

Late into the night, hours after the captain and BC made their announcement, Pixy was roaming the ship familiarizing himself with each turn and deck ignoring the glares and frightened looks from the female pirates as he passed by them.

Eventually making it to the hangar he found his flight lead doing elevated pushups from a bench in the corner.

Cipher had taken her shirt off and was now wearing a black sports bra and tight gym shorts, with her feet elevated on the seat of the bench, Cipher kept her back straight as she quickly pushed herself up from the ground and lowered back down counting each rep as she made it "48, 49, 50!"

Lowering herself one more time and violently pushing herself up, she slid her feet off the bench and curled them under her landing in a crouching position before standing up "Do you need something?" she asked Pixy before she sat on the bench.

Pixy hesitated before walking over to her and leaning against the wall, "Looks like we're a team again" he said calmly.

"Yep" Cipher responded casually.

Pixy looked at the ceiling, but before he began speaking Cipher cut him off.

"You tried to kill me Larry" the mercenary pilot looked at him before turning her gaze to their fighters at the side of the hangar "Twice" Cipher looked down looked down at her feet "I trusted you both as my wingman and my friend and you betrayed that. You tried to shoot me down before fleeing and then you resurface as a member of a terrorist organization".

"Cipher" Pixy said before she got up and looked him in the eyes.

"When you shot PJ down and our dogfight started, I didn't once question your reasons for joining A World With No Boundaries. In fact I kind of agreed with your goals, just not your methods" Cipher turned away from him "When you launched the V2 that day…I respected your resolve toward what you believed in, but I wasn't going to let you kill me and countless innocents in the process".

"We'll continue to be squad mates" the female mercenary continued "But as far as you attempting to kill me, that's going to take a lot of time to forgive and as for us being friends that's over".

With that Cipher left, leaving Pixy alone in the dimly lit hangar "For what it's worth Fiona" he said to himself after Cipher left "I'm sorry for the way it all turned out. I was hoping you'd end up joining us, but somehow I knew you wouldn't. I think a part of me however knew that you'd be the one to stop them, to stop me…"

Returning to the brig, Cipher entered the cell that would serve as her room, sitting on her bed she reached her hand up to the military dog tags she was given after she agreed to fly for the Ustio Air Force. She recalled her memories about the times she spent with Pixy during and outside the many sorties they flew.

On May 13th 1995, Directus, the capital city of Ustio was liberated from Belkan forces. Cipher and Pixy, the Galm team was mainly responsible for the operation's success and the allied forces awarded them a vintage bottle of Chateau Boloise, a rare cabernet.

That night the two mercenary pilots went out to celebrate. Sitting in front of one of the hangars on the runway of Valais Air Base the two friends laughed and cheered through the night under the clear sky.

The memory of that night brought a sad smile to Cipher's face, she always remembered that night. Pixy was her friend and even after his betrayal she still couldn't forget the fun times she had with him while they were still a team.

Finally closing her eyes, the pilot slowly laid down on the bed and eventually fell asleep dreaming of better times before everything fell apart.


	5. Trust Issues Anyone?

Cipher was jogging through the halls of the ship formerly known as the Ikazuchi, just over a week ago her and her former wingman Solo-Wing Pixy were caught in the middle of a raid by Mejerian pirates, their target was a battle ship being used by the men of Tarak.

While the raid was successful a final attempt to kill the women awakened an old energy source called the Peksis Pragma, this seemingly living energy source opened a rift in space and sent itself along with the Mejerian pirates and the men's ship they captured across the galaxy.

Including herself and Pixy the pirates had captured three other men, a young and very skilled doctor named Duelo Mcfile, a talkative helmsman named Bart Garsus and a young teen mechanic named Hibiki Tokai.

They were all prisoners, but they had earned some amount of trust from the captain who albeit from necessity made them all members of the crew. While still being treated as prisoners they were given free roam of the ship, but still kept under occasional supervision.

Cipher didn't seem to care, as long as they didn't bother or threaten her or her F-15C she had no problem with anything they did. Her wingman Pixy felt the same although he was more cautious and suspicious about everything where Cipher just didn't care.

Duelo was just as open and calm about the situation as Cipher just without the cold reaction toward everyone. He didn't mind being treated as a prisoner or that women were supposed to be his enemy, he firmly held to his belief that a doctor should help anyone regardless of who they are.

Bart was an interesting character to say the least, he was still cautious around the women, but didn't hesitate to interact with the captain or her sub-commander BC. Maybe he just felt that since he was the only one capable of helming the ship they wouldn't do anything to him, but whatever the reason he was very talkative with them on occasions.

Hibiki was easily the one who would eventually cause problems, his arrogant act first without thinking attitude put a lot of people on edge. Cipher and Pixy had both made the deduction that if anything bad happens within the crew it would probably be due to Hibiki's mouth or attitude, but in spite of that the boy proved to be a capable pilot of the Vanguard.

Cipher had recently told Pixy that she no longer trusts him after his betrayal almost seven months ago before they were thrown forward in time. Pixy's betrayal affected Cipher deeply even though she didn't show it and for that reason she told her former wingman that she will still fly with him, but as far as her trusting him or even their friendship went, both were over.

Now that she was given free roam of the ship, Cipher spent a good portion of her time with her daily habits. A two mile run after waking up, her weekly target practice. Thankfully the ship had a firing range, but only the dread pilot Barnette made use of it before Cipher began visiting it as well and finally finishing by practicing her Tai Chi and then a shower.

Stopping in front of one of the restrooms and jogging in place, Cipher looked at her pedometer strapped to her wrist before stopping and leaning against the wall. Two miles seems a lot longer in the closed in hallways of a ship then it would in a more open area.

After resting for a full minute, the mercenary pilot pushed herself off the wall and walked toward the stairs to return to her room in the brig.

She overheard two women talking about a 'rumor' of a strange tube men have between their legs, but the pilot couldn't care less about their gossip or their curiosity if they had any.

A single restroom on the same deck as the brig was reserved for the men. Hibiki was about to make use of the facility before he spotted Dita watching him in the mirror and screamed before throwing her out.

"Why can't I stay and watch Mr. Alien?" the young dread pilot asked through the door.

"How the hell am I supposed to go with you watching?!" Hibiki yelled back in a clearly embarrassed tone.

Dita sighed "I was only curious" she then spotted Cipher coming out from the staircase and quickly ran over to her.

"What is it?" Cipher asked in a semi cold tone as Dita stopped in front of her.

Once Dita stopped in front of the fighter pilot she hopefully asked, "Hey Cipher I was wondering, have you ever seen the tube that's supposed to be between a man's legs?"

Cipher's expression didn't change in the slightest; she continued to look the young redhead with the strong, piercing eyes everyone seemed to notice about her.

"Well have you?" Dita asked her again.

"Once" she answered coldly _"If by seen you mean kicked and then stepped on then yes"_ she thought afterwards.

"What's it look like?" Dita asked her cheerfully before the fighter pilot side stepped her.

"Sorry Dita, but I'm really busy" she said politely as she stepped around the young girl and returned to her room.

Entering the cell at the back of the brig that now served as her bedroom, Cipher opened a small trunk against the wall and looked at the old clothes that were folded inside.

"_I hope they fit dear, they may be old, but they were well protected and preserved in the ship's old storage room" the captain said to Cipher after she showed her some clothes the crew had found in one of the ship's old storage rooms._

"_Thank you captain" Cipher replied politely while she inspected the clothing._

"_Nonsense my dear" the captain said to her with a faint laugh in her voice "You may have that military background to you, but you're still a lady and a lady should always have a clean set of clothes to change into"._

_Cipher turned to face the captain and raised her hand to salute and thank her, but stopped in mid motion before crossing her hands at waist level and slightly bowing while keeping her eyes on the aged pirate "Thank you, captain" she said in a slight awkward tone._

_The captain chuckled "You don't have to act out of character for my sake young one. I can already tell its just not who you are. You're a member of my crew now and I always look after those in my crew, from BC down to newcomers such as yourself" the captain smiled at Cipher "If you need anything you just come and tell me alright?"_

_Cipher gave the captain a quick, but stern salute "Understood captain"._

_The captain chuckled again before she turned and left._

Cipher grabbed a change of clothes and returned to the restroom where she heard the two crew members gossiping for a shower before continuing her morning.

Pixy was in the infirmary watching Duelo perform a checkup on Ezra, one of the bridge bunnies who was in the first stages of pregnancy.

"Interesting" the doctor said as he ran a small bulky pen shaped object over the woman's body "This organ doesn't exist in a man's physiology".

"It's called the uterus" Ezra told him as she rubbed her hands down her stomach.

"A reproductive organ" the doctor noted.

Ezra explained to Duelo the way women reproduced on Mejere, even though it was foreign to him and sounded completely crazy to Pixy, both men found it interesting.

"That's actually got me thinking" Pixy said, catching the doctor's and the bride bunny's attention "How did you reproduce on your world Duelo?"

Duelo gave Pixy a short explanation to the ways babies were born on Tarak. Hearing the words factory and baby in the same sentence bothered Pixy however.

"I don't even want to project how that works" Pixy said with a faint, awkward grin at the corner of his mouth "That doesn't even sound possible".

Duelo hummed for a second before he asked, "According to the captain both men and women lived on a world called Earth long ago. You and Cipher also seem quite knowledgeable about life back then. How did people reproduce back then?"

Pixy shook his head with an amused exhale "I don't feel like encouraging a subject that could potentially cause a riot on the ship, so let's put that conversation on hold for now".

"What do you mean?" Duelo asked him calmly.

"Well" Pixy began "Think of it like this, men and women in this time or at least on this ship don't really get along. So if talk started to spread about how men and women lived together in the past, especially in a…certain way. It might cause a lot of the crew to become even more uncomfortable than they already are. Worst case scenario is they hate us even more than they do now and lock us up for good" Pixy shrugged his head to the side "Or shoot us, whichever comes first".

Duelo gave him a slight nod "Hmm, I see your point then. The presence of men on this ship still seems to be a subject of worry among most of the crew, I can see how it wouldn't be wise for rumors of men and women living together to be spreading".

Pixy shrugged again "Well from what I hear it's going to be a long journey before we reach Mejere or whatever it's called, so if they start warming up to us maybe eventually the stories could spread, but for now I'd rather not risk it".

The second Pixy slid off the edge of the bed he was sitting on the ship's alarm went off with the captain ordering all hands to prepare for battle, "Huh? Perfect timing" Pixy said before calmly running out of the infirmary.

In the bathroom, Cipher had just stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her torso. She stood in front of the mirror for a minute looking at the faint trace of a scar on her left shoulder, just under her clavicle. Before becoming a mercenary pilot, Cipher got into a lot of street and bar fights. Mostly to put thugs or drunks who got too touchy in their place.

One night when she was leaving a bar, a pair of drunken men tried coming on to her, Cipher told them she wasn't interested, but they didn't listen. After her second attempt to walk away the two men blocked her path again before she warned them which aggravated them both. Apparently they were both famous or something because they went into a rant about how no woman refuses them before they offered to pay her for her 'services'.

That was it for Cipher, she forced her way between them to leave, but the one on her left grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her, but the second he touched her Cipher grabbed his hand and spun around behind him, twisting his wrist almost a full 180 degrees before telling him "I said back off!" and violently pushing him away.

Once Cipher twisted the drunk's hand his friend smashed his beer bottle against a table and swung at her, deeply cutting her just under her left clavicle. Cipher immediately jumped back after she was cut and the first drunk wrapped his arm around her throat to restrain her, but Cipher grabbed his arm and in a swift almost instant moment hurled the drunk over her shoulder and onto his back.

The second man tried to attack Cipher again, but the future Demon Lord weaved to his side grabbing the hand holding the smashed bottle before using her thumb, index and middle fingers to snap the little bones in his wrist, causing him to drop his weapon before she pulled him toward her and slammed his head against the edge of the same table he smashed his bottle on.

The drunk was immediately knocked out and Cipher turned her attention back to the drunk on the floor as he clumsily struggled to get back to his feet.

Cipher gave the man a cocky smile as she offered him her hand, but the second he grabbed it she did a half turn and planted the heel of her shoe into his right shoulder right on top of his collarbone and with a single outward and inward pull against her own leg, dislocated the drunk's right arm before dropping the limp limb and leaving the drunk to scream and flail in pain.

Just as Cipher was leaving the bar a single cop entered after hearing the man screaming and arrested Cipher. Due to the severity of her injury he was forced to call an ambulance, but after taking the reports of the other patrons in the bar he learned that Cipher acted out of self defense and no charges were filed against her.

Barely touching her skin, Cipher ran her right index finger along the three inch scar before she took off her towel and leaned against the corner wall to dry off.

After she dried herself, Cipher set the towel on the edge of the sink and changed into her fresh clothes. Once she was changed she gently ran her finger across the scar again before stepping out.

She was now dressed in skin tight black undershirt over layered by a sleeveless red blazer jacket that stopped just a few inches above her waistline. She flipped the collar of the jacket up and only buttoned the bottom two buttons before she continued dressing.

She also wore skin tight black shorts that stopped halfway between her hips and knees and over layered those with a pair of very short blue jeans that had the legs ripped off up to just under the hips. She finished her new attire with white thigh socks and brown thigh high leather boots.

Looking at her full reflection in the mirror that hung next to the doorway Cipher's eyebrows jumped as she shrugged "I like it" she muttered before she left the shower room.

The second she stepped out into the hall an alarm rang around the ship followed by the captain ordering all hands to prepare for battle "Huh?" Cipher muttered "Perfect timing".

Both Cipher and Pixy arrive at the hangar at the same time, Pixy greeted her, but Cipher didn't respond. She gave him a faint welcoming look, but quickly turned away and stepped into the hangar, a notion that bothered Pixy.

Inside the hangar, Cipher saw Jura and Meia standing behind Dita who said something about Hibiki before she spun around like a ballerina "It was so fast!" she exclaimed while she was spinning.

"He's already out there?" Jura gasped.

Cipher made a quick stride toward her Eagle, but by the time she climbed into it the Vanguard had landed.

"Huh he survived?" Pixy mumbled when he saw the Vanguard land.

Hibiki climbed out of the mech's cockpit before seeing Meia glaring at him and Dita staring at Meia with a frightened look.

"You must be here to thank me huh?" Hibiki asked in a very cocky tone.

"Don't be so conceited" Meia said to him, doing her best to restrain her apparent anger and dislike for Hibiki "You put yourself in a lot of danger by doing that. You're only to act on my direct orders".

Hibiki jumped down from his Vanguard and placed his hand against his waist before continuing in the same cocky tone "Don't make me laugh, you can't expect to beat the enemy if you let a little danger like that bother you" the arrogant pilot paused to flex his bicep "But I guess you don't have to worry about that, you've got me to protect you".

Meia scoffed and closed her seething eyes "Small dogs always bark the loudest".

Hibiki gritted his teeth and yelled "Yeah well its better than not being able to bark at all!"

"Except you're not the one who barking it's just your machine right?" Meia fired back.

"Are you looking for trouble with me?" Hibiki growled.

"What's the matter?" Meia taunted "Can't handle the truth?"

"Who died and made you king?!" Hibiki yelled "Who do you think you are?"

"You're OUR prisoner" Meia stated.

"Well don't forget that your prisoner saved your butts!" Hibiki yelled again.

As the two continued to fight, Dita sighed while Pixy noticed Cipher walking away from her F-15C, seeing the look in her eyes Pixy asked, "Where you going?"

"To the bridge" Cipher told him "If the captain doesn't do something about him he's going to end up dead".

Hibiki had the same idea to speak to the captain, but Cipher got there ahead of him.

Seeing Cipher speaking to the captain, Hibiki stood next to the mercenary and began speaking in a very aggravated tone "Hey listen here old lady" he said "I saved your butts twice now so at least listen to me when I ask for a favor isn't that how the world works?"

"There's also a policy called waiting in line" Cipher told him sternly, but the hostility in both her eyes and voice was more than obvious.

Hibiki turned to give Cipher a quick glare before he looked back at the captain and began making his demands. The second he started speaking however, Cipher stepped over to him and roughly pushed him to the side.

"Hey, what the hell!" Hibiki froze when he saw Cipher holding a gun at him.

"Don't speak…again" she said to him in a tone that sent a chill down the pilot's spine.

Cipher calmly and slowly lowered her gun before turning her attention back to the captain "Captain for the sake of the crew and maintaining peace on the ship I suggest you do something with him before someone shoots him…Most likely Meia or Barnette".

The captain regarded Cipher with a calm expressions "I understand your concern, but first I must ask you to keep your weapon holstered. I can't have you pulling a gun on anyone inside the ship regardless of the circumstances".

Regaining her composure, Cipher nodded as she holstered her handgun "Understood".

The captain thought for a moment before making a decision "How about assigning you to the Reg Crew?" she asked Hibiki.

"Reg Crew?" the teen repeated.

"It's an interesting job" the captain told him with an amused smile "And it's under different management".

"Different management?" Hibiki wondered with a smile of his own "Sounds good to me" the Vanguard pilot leaves with a pleased smile.

"What do you think?" Magno asked looking at the console in front of her had a small screen showing Meia.

"Thank you captain" the pilot replied.

The captain nodded "We'll leave that man in Gascogne's capable hands".

"I apologize for the trouble" Meia said "But having a man acting on his own could damage the crew's morale" Meia promptly ended the transmission from her end and the captain gained an awkward smile.

"Never changes" she noted "Stubborn as a mule" she looked down the bridge to Bart who was sitting at the edge of the helm portal "How long are you going to keep eavesdropping?!" she yelled, startling the young helmsman.

"I'm going!" Bart cried as he dived back into the helm portal "Why do I get all the flak?" he growled to himself before climbing back out "Auto pilot sequence engage" he said saluting the captain "I'm going on break!"

Cipher sighed angrily through her nose before she looked at the captain "At this rate, I might decide to live on Mejere when this is all over" the mercenary pilot walked away "Just to get away from them".

Still annoyed from Hibiki's arrogance, Cipher entered the firing range and stood next to the corner table before disassembling her firearm. Once the weapon was dismantled, the fiery pilot stepped back from the table and slowly exhaled before she slowly raised her arms and began performing slow, flowing movements while turning her torso and taking single occasional steps.

Barnette entered the firing range to pass some time with Jura accompanying her, both pilots stopped when they saw Cipher slowly turning back and forth slowly waving her arms around.

"What's she doing?" Jura asked seeing the eloquent, almost beautiful way Cipher would cross her legs in front of each other before stepping forward and turning and then briefly freezing in a different pose before continuing.

"What are you doing here?" Barnette asked her in a hostile tone, not as hostile as she used toward the men, but still pretty hostile.

"Its called Tai Chi" Cipher told her, keeping her eyes closed as she froze in a stance that had her right arm drawn back in a fist, her right foot stepping in and behind her left and her left arm stretched halfway out in an open palm.

Staying in that stance for about ten seconds, Cipher relaxed her muscles before turning back to the table and sitting down.

Looking down at the watch on her left wrist, Cipher pressed a single button that started a stopwatch before she immediately grabbed the handle to her dismantled handgun and began putting it back together.

Sliding the chamber piece into place and then releasing her thumb and index finger from the side of the gun which locked the chamber into position before she loaded a magazine into the weapon and then stopping her watch.

"_28 seconds"_ she thought _"Not exactly a record"_.

Getting to her feet, Cipher stepped over to the circular platform and waited for it to rise several feet above the floor "You won't mind if I take the range for now would you?" she asked the two women watching her.

Barnette angrily closed her eyes as she walked to another of the circular platforms and waited for it to rise as well "Just don't distract me and you can do what you want" she told her as she drew her favorite handgun an Beretta M9 and loaded a fresh clip into it. "So what are you using?" she asked Cipher without looking at her.

"Five Seven" Cipher replied as she made sure the sights were lined properly "Extended magazine, 20 rounds instead of 10, 21 including the one already in the chamber".

Barnette didn't say anything that time; she pressed a button on the wall next to her, activating the range.

Holding the gun in her right hand, Cipher braced her right wrist on top of her left forearm while she clutched an extra magazine in her left hand. Once the first target popped up, Cipher swiftly aimed down the range and shot it before striking as fast as lightning at the second one and then the third.

With pin point precision and an ice cold look in her eyes, Cipher shot down one target after the other before Barnette could even line up a shot on one, much to the dread pilot's surprise.

Counting each shot she made, once Cipher reached 21 released the lock holding the magazine in place and in the same second slid her second clip into the Five Seven's handle, locking in place and pulling the chamber back before resuming shooting down each target as soon as it popped up.

About halfway through, Barnette stopped trying to shoot the targets altogether and watched Cipher shoot them down one instant after another.

Precision and focus like that is usually only seen in Special Forces, she thought just before Cipher fired at the last target, hitting a bull's-eye.

Cipher lowered her Five Seven before looking at a small screen to her side that read "All targets destroyed, round end".

Cipher didn't look at either of the two pilots in the firing range with her; she could feel their eyes on her, their speechless amazement at how quickly she destroyed each target.

Tilting her Five Seven downward, she raised it to chest level while keeping it angled before jerking the chamber back, ejecting the currently loaded round into the air before she took aim at it and fired.

Both Barnette and Jura watched in a trance as the ejected shell flew out of the gun's chamber before one last gunshot echoed in the large room and the shell disappeared from the air.

Jura heard a faint ding sound like a pen or quarter dropping and looked to her side, spotting the ejected 5.7x28mm round lying at her feet; it had a light dent on the side, center of its brass casing.

Cipher ejected the clip from the Five Seven and holstered the firearm before her platform lowered back to the floor.

"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" Barnette asked her, refusing to believe what she just witnessed.

"Nothing special" Cipher said, stopping in front of the open doorway "Just a lot of practice over the years".

Cipher stepped out of the firing range and returned to her room to store her handgun in the trunk she used for her belongings.

Returning the handgun and its emptied magazine to the trunk Cipher grabbed her 7-inch combat knife and its leather holster and asked "Do you need something?"

Pixy was leaning against the wall outside her cell, "Just letting you know that the engineer teams and hangar crews were able to repair the ECM jammer on the Morgan, so if it's ever needed we'll have it. The Reg Crew that handles rearming the dreads also have a plentiful stock of sidewinder and sparrow missiles that we can use on our fighters as well as Vulcan rounds for our guns.

"Good to know" Cipher replied as she finished clipping the leather holster of her combat knife to the left shoulder of her sleeveless red jacket "Anything else?"

It was beyond obvious to Pixy that Cipher didn't feel like talking to him more than she had to, as much as it bothered him he couldn't blame her, he'd even admit to himself that it's his fault their friendship fell apart.

"No, just wanted to let you know" he said before leaving.

After Pixy left, Cipher recalled the day he turned on her. After Belkan forces dropped seven V1 nukes on their own soil to stave off the advancing allied forces, the systems of both F-15's were scrambled, but the two pilots were able to keep them in the air.

_A familiar voice came from the radio, calling to Pixy "Larry can you hear me?" it said. It was the voice of Joshua Bristow, Wizard 1, an Osean fighter pilot. The one who started A World with No Boundaries "Your magical carriage is here Cinderella"._

"_How can you say that after what just happened!?" Pixy yelled._

"_Its time to start" Wizard 1 told him._

"_And you're here to drag me off?" Pixy asked him "To Hell I suppose"._

_Pixy decelerated and got behind Cipher "Buddy. I've finally found a reason to fight"._

_When he finished talking, Pixy targeted Cipher and began firing missiles, but due to the nuclear disruption in the area the targeting systems in the missiles were scrambled and they just screamed harmlessly by._

_Evading both missiles and gunfire, Cipher continued to yell at her wingman to ceasefire before he finally turned away and fled the engagement zone before fading from radar, leaving her with his final words "This is where we go our separate ways"._

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Cipher knew she'd see Pixy again and something in her gut told her their reunion wasn't going to be a good one. After his defection, Cipher refused to trust anyone, even the pilot who replaced Pixy as her wingman.

Former 3rd wing in the Crow Squadron, Patrick "PJ" James was a naïve, but skilled pilot who flew to ensure peace and an end to war. He was very talkative, but Cipher never really responded to him unless she was giving him orders.

During the final battle above Avalon Dam when PJ was shot down in front of her, Cipher froze as she watched the loss of another of her wingmen before the voice of her former ally and buddy brought her to her senses.

"Why'd you do it Larry?" she asked herself before the ship's alarm brought her out of her thoughts.

"All hands prepare for battle!" the captain ordered from every speaker on the ship.

Getting to her feet and rushing to the hangar, Cipher made it just as Pixy had closed the canopy on his fighter.

Getting into her Eagle, Cipher waited for the small hangar trucks to taxi her and Pixy into position to take off.

Once they were in position, Cipher contacted the bridge "Galm 1 here, Galm team is in position and ready to take off".

"Roger Galm 1 you're both cleared to launch" Aramone's voice answered.

The engines of both fighters roared to life with a blazing heat as they flew out of the hangar and into space.

Spotting the sphere shaped enemy ahead of the dread formation, Cipher narrowed her eyes as the sphere sprouted tentacles all around it, which quickly arched into blades.

"A sea urchin?" Jura gasped "Hey are we seriously going to fight that thing?"

"Just calm down Jura" Meia told her "All teams check your formation, commence attack".

The dreads flew into a head on attack formation against the new enemy, barely evading and weaving past the bladed tentacles of the sea urchin after it blocked their shots.

"How do you wanna handle this Cipher?" Pixy asked after he saw the attack run fail.

"Weapons safe for now and trail behind me" Cipher ordered "That thing blocked their missiles so let's see if a strafing run will work".

"Pixy roger. Galm team engaging".

Cipher accelerated toward the sea urchin with Pixy following right behind her. "Watch the blades; they'll take your wing off if they get you".

"I guess regaining control of my fighter in the vacuum of space would be pretty difficult" Pixy said as they began their attack run, both fighters strafing the enemy with their guns.

The bullets impacted the blades and the shell of the sea urchin, but caused no visible damage.

The enemy started spinning rapidly as the two pilots approached it and they both performed a wide half loop over the sea urchin to avoid the spinning blades.

"Its armor is too thick for our guns alone" Pixy reported.

The sphere made its move, rapidly spinning again it flew toward the pirate's ship slicing at the starboard arm before looping for a second attack; thankfully the Galm team was able to force it off its attack path, preventing further damage.

"Our missiles can't damage it either!" Pixy yelled after the two mercenaries forced the sphere away from the ship "What should we do Cipher?"

"Just keep it away from the ship for now, watch its movements and determine the best plan of attack" Cipher ordered "Let the dreads handle the enemy for right now and support them as needed".

Pixy sighed, "Galm 2, roger".

The dreads attempted another attack run, but just like the first time it failed. The sphere shaped enemy rotated, using its blades to block their missile shots before forcing them to back away, giving it a clear shot at the ship.

"Intercepting" Cipher said, stopping the enemy from striking the ship again.

"We need to do something about those needles" Pixy said "If we don't eliminate those this will just continue until we're all out of ammo".

"Meia let's get the alien out here!" Dita suggested.

"No!" Meia barked "Don't forget he's one of our enemies because he's a man".

"But he's a good alien I just know it!" Dita pleaded.

"I've told you before not to rely on the strength of others!" Meia yelled "This is our battle we'll win this on our own".

Meia's dread beings spinning as she empties her entire payload against the enemy, but the end result was the same; no damage.

"Ms. Gasco I've got an order to go!" Barnette cried over the radio once her last missile was fired.

Barnette, Dita, Jura and Meia had emptied their loadout and retreated to a safe distance while they waited for Gascogne's delivery ship to leave and rearm them.

While they fell back, Cipher and Pixy continued to keep the ship safe from the enemy. Alternating their attacks against the enemy, Galm team was effectively managing to keep the sphere away from the ship while the dreads were being rearmed.

One by one both Cipher and Pixy would attack the sphere to keep it on the defensive, instead of attacking it at the same time and then giving it an opening as they turned around. This way they were able to keep it pushed back while the other turned to reengage.

Gascogne's delivery ship left the ship and promptly arrived at the battle zone "Alright girl's lets do this in one go" the Reg leader told the female pilots "Thirty seconds". The dreads docked with the delivery ship and the rearming process began while the enemy was still preoccupied.

"Delivery complete" Gascogne confirmed once the dreads were fully armed "Give 'em hell girls".

"Larry, watch out!" Cipher yelled as the enemy began rotating to block Pixy's missiles while flying toward him in an attempt to bring him down.

Acting on instinct alone, Pixy threw his flightstick to the side and decelerated to evade the enemy before accelerating into a dive to get a safe distance away before turning around.

The enemy used this chance to attack Gascogne's delivery ship, but the Reg leader smirked as she tilted her ship downward allowing the enemy to recoil away from the reinforced shell.

The side of the delivery ship opened after the enemy passed by and the Vanguard finally entered the battle.

"So he decided to show up after all?" Pixy said as the Vanguard flew toward the sea urchin.

"Here's our chance!" Cipher said "Weapons free move in and finish it off!"

Pixy smiled "Roger! Now you're talkin'".

Hibiki along with the Galm team closed in on the enemy which stopped spinning before firing its spikes out at them, but thanks to Pixy's quick reaction, his fighter's ECM jammer was able to keep the needles from hitting them.

With its attack trashed, the sphere barely managed to avoid being sandwiched between the three pilots and retreated back a good distance before its needles regenerated.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita cried as she flew toward the Vanguard "Let's combine now!"

"Dita watch out!" Meia yelled as the enemy turned its attention to Dita's dread and fired more needles.

One of the needles clipped Meia's wing sending her dread into a tail spin right in the Vanguard's path before the two fighters collided in a bright light.

Just like with Dita's dread, the Vanguard had combined with Meia's. The new machine easily resembled a dragon, with clawed feet and a glaring face and eyes at its head.

"Those things sure have a lot of fancy tricks I'll give 'em that much" Pixy said after seeing the new machine.

Inside the new Vandread, Hibiki was leaning against the controls still dazed from the sudden change. "What the hell just happened?" he moaned as he leaned back and felt something soft behind him.

Looking behind him, the pilot screamed when he realized he was sitting on Meia's lap "What are you do you think you're doing!?"

"What are you doing!?" Meia fired back as she tried to push the boy off of her "I never asked for your help so get the heck off me!"

"If I could don't you think I would?" Hibiki yelled before the enemy attacked them.

"We don't have time for this" Hibiki told her as Cipher and Pixy began attacking the enemy again.

The new Vandread began chasing after the enemy with incredible speed, easily closing the large gap between it and the enemy.

Realizing how close they were to it, the sphere stopped and fired more needles forcing Pixy to activate his fighter's ECM jammer again to repel them, but the Vandread's speed allowed it to loop around behind the enemy in what seemed like a single second.

The Vandread's legs folded inward and its head stiffened outward while the wings folded back "This is exactly what I've been waiting for!" both Meia and Hibiki yelled as the Vandread flashed toward the enemy piercing through it in an instant destroying it.

Inside the Vandread both pilots were breathing heavily, the intense acceleration took a lot out of both of them. "Do you see now?" Meia asked Hibiki "You can't win every battle with just your Vanguard".

"The same goes for you and your dread don't you think?" Hibiki asked looking over his shoulder.

"Well I'm sure glad that's over" Pixy said before noticing that Cipher had already turned around and headed back toward the ship.

With the battle over, things began returning to normal once more. On the bridge, Parfet used Pyoro to communicate with the captain.

"The ship's name?" the captain asked her.

Parfet nodded "Yes, the entire crew contributed names to this list and we want you to choose one captain".

"You want me to choose?" the captain asked with an intrigued smile.

"Just as long as you pick a cool sounding one" Parfet told her before the NAVI-bot's screen showed a list of suggested names.

Zeroing in on "Nirvana" the captain hummed "Hmm, the Nirvana? Not a bad idea, who's suggestion was it?"

"It was the commander's suggestion" Pyoro smiled.

"Then it's decided" the captain said "From now on this ship will be known as the Nirvana!"

Parfet seemed displeased "Oh, I should've known".

With the day reaching its end and most of the crew turning in for the night, Cipher remained in the hangar where it was dark and quiet.

Reaching up to her left shoulder, she unlatched the belt around her combat knife and pulled it from its holster. Looking at her own reflection in the blade as it gleamed from what little light was in the hangar, the mercenary pilot tightened her grip on the handle before she started swinging the knife.

Cipher swung the knife outward before taking a quick step back and then quickly stepping forward and thrusting the knife at chest level. Pulling the blade back, Cipher stepped to the side and held her leg up before twisting it, as if she was blocking a kick from someone before locking her leg around theirs.

After her foot was back on the ground, Cipher flipped the knife in her hand, now holding it downward before stabbing down at her imaginary opponent.

With a murderous look in her eyes, Cipher flipped the knife around in her hand again before sheathing it in its holster and clipping the buckle back in place, "Do you need something?" she asked.

Pixy was standing behind her with two unmarked envelopes in his hands, "Our pay for defending the ship today" he told her before handing her one of the envelopes "Minus a bit for ammo expenses of course".

"Expenses are expenses" Cipher agreed as she slid the envelope into her red sleeveless jacket "Anything else?" she asked him.

"No, just giving you your cut" Pixy said before turning around and leaving.

After Pixy left the hangar he began feeling guilty, not once did he regret joining A World with No Boundaries, but since a few days ago when Cipher said she no longer trusted him he began to wonder if it was all worth it.

He fought for his beliefs even if they pit him against his former friend, but now it seems his beliefs had permanently divided the two. He knew apologizing wouldn't fix anything, actually it'd probably only annoy Cipher if he apologized to her, but he still wanted t do something, anything to mend the rift between them now.

For now however, it seems he has to allow time to take its course, and hope that time will indeed heal this wound he caused.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And that's chapter 5 in all its glory!

The crew survives another battle and Meia and Hibiki learn an important lesson in teamwork.

Cipher and Pixy continue to fly as a team, but outside of battle their relationship continues to slowly dwindle away.

Since absolutely nothing was ever revealed about Cipher's past I decided to come up with one of my own that I will be revealing piece by piece as I continue this cross over. In this chapter we see Cipher involved in a bar fight before she became a mercenary, even then she was a dangerous and highly trained person.

Barnette and Jura both witnessed Cipher performing the globally popular Tai Chi before she began a round of target practice, shocking both pilots with her pinpoint marksmanship and deadly focus.

That bit was actually inspired and somewhat of a tribute to my older sister who placed 12th in her Navy ship's marksmanship challenge. She didn't win, but I'm still proud of her.

As for Cipher's appearance this chapter it was inspired by one of my all time favorite video game characters Claire Redfield from the Resident Evil series. Resident Evil 6 releases October 2nd so my anticipation for that is also adding a bit to my inspiration I guess.

That's all for now everyone, see you next time!


	6. Truth Behind the Faceless

"45, 46, 47" Cipher was in her room in the brig working out since no one else was currently there. She was doing sit ups counting each rep as she bought he chest and elbows to her knees. "48, 49, 50"

Stopping at 50, she paused for a few seconds to catch her breath before jumping to her feet and grabbing a small white pedometer and clipping it to the edge of her running shorts.

Jogging out of the hangar, Cipher continued her morning workout.

In the conference room, captain Magno and BC were looking at a hologram in the center of the table; it showed a desert looking planet the Nirvana was hovering above.

"This planet" BC began as she examined the image.

"It appears to be dead" the captain finished "No water or plants detected anywhere".

BC looked at her captain "Perhaps we should investigate, we could find something useful".

"I'm not worried about you going BC" Magno told her "It's the others I'm worried about. Which reminds me BC, did you ever find out anything about our two mercenaries?"

BC placed a fist against her hip and hung her head to the side "Not as much as I would've liked to, but I did find something in the old storage rooms".

"And?" the captain asked.

BC reached down and lifted a small steel box into her arms before carrying it to her captain, "There's a bunch of old pictures and a book in here. All of them are marked by the same emblem Cipher has on her fighter".

"You mean that orange dog?" Magno asked her as she looked at one of the photos in the box, it showed two F-15C's flying next to each other over a long river. Another photo showed a zoomed out picture of two fighter jets splitting away from each other as a giant laser was fired at them.

BC handed the book to her captain "I took a look at this book and it seems to be an account of Cipher and Pixy's actions during the Belkan War".

"The Belkan War…" Magno hummed "So those two really are from Earth then".

Opening the book for herself, Magno's eyes zeroed in on the of the author "Brett Thompson…hmm".

Stopping in the Vanguard hangar, Cipher leaned against a wall to catch her breath, looking over to the Vanguard she could see Hibiki slowly working on some minor repairs to the mech.

"These women are such slave drivers" he muttered, completely unaware of Dita sneaking up behind him.

Pressing her finger to her lips, Dita shot a heart at him causing him to lose his balance and fall.

Staring up at the hangar's ceiling, Hibiki sighed "Maybe I'm just not eating right".

Dita stepped over to him and they looked at each other "Are you ok Mr. Alien?"

Hibiki eventually made his way to the infirmary to see Duelo who had started talking to Pixy more and more.

"So you were training as a doctor before you became a fighter pilot?" Duelo asked.

Pixy nodded "My father was a doctor and so was his father, it went back a few generations and they wanted it to become a tradition for the men in my family to all be doctors, but I just didn't take as much a liking to it as my father would've liked".

"And what did he say?" Duelo asked curiously.

"I never told him" Pixy answered, "Eventually I just had enough and walked away once I was legal age to be on my own. I decided to join the military; I was in the army for most of my time before I joined the Air Force, but even that ended eventually".

"What do you mean?" the doctor asked him.

Pixy tilted his head to the side and looked up at the ceiling "I left the military as well; just before the war started and I started freelancing before being hired by Ustio…Of course I left Ustio as well after a while and joined the Organization".

Hibiki entered the room looking sick, telling him to sit on one of the beds; Duelo grabbed what looked like a bulky pen from his lab coat and ran it over Hibiki's body.

"It seems to just be fatigue" Duelo concluded.

"Well fighting alongside the women isn't exactly easy work doc" Hibiki told him "Someone has to protect them".

"So you're fighting to protect them then?" Duelo asked him.

Hibiki's face turned a slight shade of red "Well you see" he began while fiddling his fingers against each other "The thing is I'm stronger than they are and since they're weak well…"

"_I wouldn't say they're weak"_ Pixy thought _"Just not very experienced"_.

Duelo noticed Hibiki's pulse rising, "Let's stop talking about the women".

Paiway who had remained silent most of the time looked over to the monitor showing Hibiki's vitals and pointed at it "What's this? Some kind of video game?"

"You've never seen a pulse meter before?" Duelo asked her.

The young nurse replied angrily, "What's it to you if I haven't?"

"Oh yeah, she's definitely a nurse" Pixy muttered under his breath.

"Besides you don't need something like this" Paiway continued, "All health problems can be fixed with the Jacuzzi".

"Ja…cuzzi?" Duelo pronounced, clearly unfamiliar with the word.

"Well I know where Cipher is then" Pixy said with a small smile "She's tough as nails and fierce as a tiger, but she loves to relax in a spa" Pixy chuckled as he left the infirmary.

In the spa area, many of the crew were being tended to by these working in the spa, more specifically Jura who had more women caring for her than anyone else.

"Oooooh thank you so much" the blonde pilot moaned "Space combat damages my hair and I can always count on you to fix me right up".

"Don't worry about it Jura" one of the attendants told her "We won't stop until you're back to your former beauty".

Jura smiled at her before looking over her shoulder at Meia who was relaxing in one of the Jacuzzis, "Meia! Are you trying to lose more weight?"

"Excess body fat can get in the way of combat" Meia told her calmly.

"But you won't have any breasts left if you keep that up" Jura panicked "It'd be a shame to ruin that wonderful body you have".

The dread leader smirked "You don't have to worry about me Jura I'll be just fine".

"If you say so" Jura muttered before moving her eyes to Cipher who was in the same Jacuzzi as Meia "What about you Cipher? How does it feel?"

Cipher had submerged herself in the Jacuzzi up to her nose and closed her eyes as the high temperature relaxed her body. Hearing Jura, Cipher slowly raised her arm out of the water and gave the blonde pilot a silent thumbs up before quickly retracting her arm back into the water.

Jura smiled and turned her head forward, closing her eyes and allowing the attendants to continue treating her.

"_Well here it is" Jura said cheerfully as she opened the door to the spa and edged Cipher inside._

_Cipher looked around the spa and tried to hide the corner smile growing on her face._

_Jura continued, "You may be comfortable hanging around the men, but you're still a woman and a beautiful one at that, so it's your responsibility to take care of yourself"_.

On the bridge, Belvedere announced the confirmed presence of several heat signatures in the same area.

Ezra added "Artificial structures also confirmed, but there's a sandstorm raging at the moment and I can't get a clear picture".

BC turned to the captain "Should we investigate?"

Magno tilted her head to the side and rested it against her fist "Our kitchen is running low on supplies" she then smiled "Very well, perhaps we should just do things like old fashioned pirates".

BC smiled and turned back around "Begin monitoring weather patterns. Once the storm ends determine the best location for a recon party". The sub-commander activated the ship's PA system and made an announcement "Attention all crew; we're going to be investigating a planet. All pilots are to begin training simulations in the Vanguards at once".

In the brig, Cipher was sitting on the cot which served as her bed looking at a photo of her in her flightsuit standing next to Pixy with both of their F-15's behind them. A photo taken after they destroyed the laser weapon Excalibur.

Even though she said that her and Pixy would remain squad mates, they're friendship was long over after his betrayal. After staring at the photo for a few minutes, she grabbed it by both of the top corners and moved her hands in opposite directions prepared to rip the photo in half, but she stopped at last second.

She couldn't bring herself to tear it, she felt like she wanted to, but she just couldn't do it. Maybe she wanted to keep something to remind her of a better time when the two of them challenged the skies and Belka at once. She tried to convince herself that those days were over, but she still couldn't bring herself to tear apart the photo.

Jumping to her feet, she placed the picture on her nightstand and drew her Five Seven and took aim at the picture._ "What's wrong with me?"_ she asked herself _"My hands won't stop shaking"._ Cipher's right hand was shaking, almost as if she was afraid to pull the trigger.

Gripping the handle of the firearm with both her hands, she tried to steady herself, but she was still shaking. "Why?" she silently asked herself "Why can't I just pull the trigger?"

Finally lowering her gun, Cipher mentally chastised herself for hesitating, something she hadn't done since she was a child.

"Cipher" a voice said from behind, startling her.

Cipher spun around aiming the Five Seven at her wingman's Adam's apple, still slightly shaking.

Pixy quickly held his hand up to chest level "It's me" he said calmly before noticing that her hand was shaking _"Something's got her on edge"._

He lowered his arms as Cipher lowered and holstered her Five Seven "The commander wants us to train in the Vanguard simulators to join the recon party, but personally I think we should remain here in case the ship is attacked again. What do you think?"

Cipher took a quick breath and turned back around, quickly grabbing the photo from her nightstand and sliding it into her red blazer jacket, "That would be the smart play".

Quickly turning around, Cipher slipped past Pixy and headed for the elevator, not looking back or giving Pixy a chance to speak to her. When the elevator doors opened, Cipher stepped inside and immediately closed the doors behind her.

Pixy had never seen her like this before, even though Cipher no longer considered them friends he still considered Cipher his friend even if she grew to hate him. Walking over to the staircase Pixy opened the door before noticing something lying on the floor in front of the elevator.

"That picture" he muttered when he stood over it. Kneeling down he gently grabbed it and picked it up before staring at it "So this is what's got her rattled" he realized before he saw a small tear at the top and both of the top corners folded in different directions. "Was she trying to rip it?" he asked himself "Why did she have her gun drawn? She had her gun drawn by the time I got here…was she going to shoot it instead?"

Walking back into Cipher's cell and setting the picture on her nightstand, Pixy left and headed up the staircase to the bridge still unsure what to make of Cipher's behavior.

Pixy made it to the bridge, just as Cipher finished making the suggestion to Magno.

"You certainly have a point Cipher" the aged pirate agreed "Very well, the Galm team will remain on board in case of an attack during the operation".

Cipher nodded and left the bridge, quickly slipping past Pixy not even moving her eyes to look at him.

"Pixy I have a request for you" Magno said, also not looking at him.

"Captain" Pixy replied, stepping forward.

"I want you to go to the training deck and monitor my pilots as they perform in the Vanguard simulations. Offer your experience as a pilot to improve their performance. I don't know what we'll find down there, but I want them to be as ready as possible".

Pixy nodded "Right away captain".

After Pixy left the bridge as well, BC turned to her captain "Is it just me captain or do those two seem distracted by something?"

Magno moved her eyes down to the console in front of her; the screen on her terminal was showing Cipher at the ship's shooting range, quickly dispatching each target as it appeared.

The screen changed and showed Pixy as he walked down the hall, making his way to the training deck. He was holding a small picture in his hand, one Magno could easily make out.

"Remember when I said those two have a troubled relationship BC?" the captain asked.

BC nodded, "I do. You don't think something will happen between them do you? It could affect the crew's morale".

Magno closed her eyes and rested her head against her open hand "There's a rift between them. Sometime soon there's going to come a time when they'll either learn to trust and forgive each other again, or they'll end up killing one another".

"If I may be blunt captain" BC began "If there's even a slight chance that they may become hostile toward each other I recommend we detain both of them in separate areas of the ship, it could".

Magno cut her off, "I understand your concern BC, but I won't allow it. For now they seem focused well enough to be in shape in the event of an enemy attack, but if it ever comes to the contrary…then we'll review our options on how to deal with it, especially if it negatively affects the rest of the crew".

"_I hope you're right captain"_ BC thought as she turned around. A screen appeared above the bridge, showing the progress of the dread pilots in the Vanguard simulations.

In the monitoring room of the training deck, Duelo and Pixy were both watching how each of the pilots performed, Hibiki pretended to watch, but he mainly criticized them and Bart was in the back corner quickly reading over the pilot's manual for the Van-Types.

"I've had it with this thing!" Jura yelled after she failed another simulation "Can't this thing move with even just a little elegance!? I'm out of here"

Jura opened her training pod to leave, but Pixy locked it from the monitoring station "Sorry Jura, captain's orders now reset and run it again".

"How dare you lock me in here!" Jura yelled at him "I demand you let me out at once!"

Pixy sighed, "I'll let you out once you complete your training in that thing, so hop to it".

"Ha, see I told you" Hibiki said proudly, almost cockily "There's just no way a woman could pilot the Van-Types".

"Hey Hibiki" Pixy said quickly "Shut up. You're not helping the situation".

That's when both Pixy and Duelo noticed Meia's vitals were extremely high, almost bordering at shock levels. "Duelo" Pixy began "I suggest we shut her down, at this point she's only going to succeed at injuring herself".

Duelo ended Meia's simulation right as it flashed "Killed in combat" inside her pod.

"Are there medical overrides on Mejere?" he asked the dread leader "On Tarak, doctors are given the authority to ground pilots in situations similar to yours, do you want that?"

"Of course not!" Meia fired back in an exhausted and fatigued tone.

Duelo advised, "Then I suggest you widen your field of vision, it will reduce the strain on your body".

"You should keep your suggestions to yourself" Meia muttered as she increased her field of vision and tried again.

"If she doesn't improve I'm shutting her down" Pixy said "She'll just be a liability to the mission at this rate".

"A liability" he repeated under his breath before remembering the day he defected from Ustio. The day Belka set off seven nuclear weapons on their own soil, he also remembered his words when the order to intercept the bombers came in…_"This war would end if they just blew everything up"_.

Seeing "Killed in combat" flash across Meia's screen again, Pixy quickly reached his hand over and shut off her pod and opened it before getting to his feet "I need a break from all of this" he muttered tiredly before walking out of the monitoring station and returning to the bridge.

Entering the bridge again Pixy looked to the Nirvana's captain, "Captain I think we may have a potential problem".

"I agree" the captain replied before activating a screen at the side of her terminal.

The screen showed Cipher in the firing range, shooting down several targets with her accuracy quickly growing worse.

"She's missing?" Pixy muttered "She never misses" he said blankly.

Cipher missed her final shot and yelled as she threw her Five Seven to the ground and slammed her fist against the counter.

"Something is bothering her" Magno said coldly "I cannot have her behaving like this on my ship; it could cause problems with the rest of the crew".

Pixy interrupted, "I understand captain. I'll see if I can calm her down".

"Please do" the captain continued "I don't know what's got her riled up, but it must be bad".

"_Pretty sure I know what and why to"_ Pixy thought before speaking "If I may make a request captain".

Magno nodded, "Go ahead".

"I'm afraid to say that your pilot's aren't very good at piloting the Vanguards. The only two that have made progress in the simulators are Meia and Barnette, but both of them keep failing just like the rest of them. Jura is complaining because it lacks 'elegance' and Meia is showing signs of extreme claustrophobia; personally I think sending her on this mission in a Vanguard is a risky move. Barnette is managing herself pretty well, but I think her distrust of anything used by Tarak is getting in the way of her judgement. She's only learning the basic controls such as moving and combat, she's not paying attention to anything else; also risky to send her out if that's how she's going to act".

"I see" Magno said "Thank you for the report Pixy, I will speak to Meia and Barnette, you may go".

Pixy saluted Magno before leaving the bridge to go look for Cipher.

He entered the shooting range, but Cipher was no where to be seen "Dammit Cipher, this isn't like you…" he muttered before walking back to the brig.

Entering the brig, Pixy walked over to Cipher's cell and met her eyes as she was walking out.

"Cipher" he said before she slipped by him.

"I'm busy, sorry" she said as she quickly returned to the elevator and went up.

Pixy returned to the bridge just as the mission was commencing, a shuttle air dropped the Vanguards to the planet's surface.

"Cipher and I are on standby in case of an emergency captain" Pixy reported as he entered the bridge again.

"Careful" Barnette's voice said over the radios "The sand isn't stable".

A camera from each of the Vanguards showed a first person view of what was around them; along with an overhead view from the Nirvana's radar system they had a clear view of the entire surrounding area.

"This place is deserted" Jura noted after a swift scan of the area "It's so quiet it's almost creepy".

"It looks like the remains of a city" Pixy said as he watched from the bridge "What do you think happened?" he asked BC.

"Hard to say" the commander replied "It could've been a really bad storm or a war, no way of knowing until we find something".

"Hey don't go off on your own!" Hibiki's voice called out before the pilot yelled. His Vanguard had slid down a steep slope of sand and lost its footing, falling backwards.

Jura's Vanguard knelt next to him "Hey there" she said to the downed pilot "Why don't you stop playing around and combine with me already".

"Are you still on about that!?" Hibiki yelled "How do you expect me to combine a Van-Type with another Van-Type!? I can only combine with your dread!"

"Huh?" Jura gasped "You mean I came all this way for nothing!?"

"Stop it" Dita cried as she walked over to them "Even if we were in our dreads the only one Mr. Alien is going to combine with is me!"

Jura growled "Who do you think you're talking to!?"

"Enough!" Hibiki yelled as he activated the Vanguard's thrusters and took off into the sky before something swiftly shot him down.

"What was that?" Pixy gasped after seeing Hibiki go down.

Hundreds of lasers began covering the entire area trapping the Vanguards inside.

"Some kind of defense system has been activated" Aramone announced.

"The landing party is trapped!" Belvedere added.

"Recon team report!" BC yelled into the radio "Repeat! Recon team, what's your situation!"

"What is this?" Jura yelled "What's going on?"

"The lasers have us completely trapped!" Barnette reported.

Dita panicked, "Mr. Alien is really hurt he needs help!"

"Just calm down Dita" BC told the young pilot "What's the situation like?"

Jura and Barnette both screamed.

"Jura, Barnette!" BC yelled.

"The sand is attacking us!" Barnette cried.

"The sand?" Pixy muttered is disbelief.

"Meia here, does anyone copy?"

"She's pushing herself" Duelo said calmly as he sat at BC's terminal.

Meia's picture appeared on the main screen showing her vitals along with the rest of the landing party's.

"I thought you were going to pull Meia off the mission" Pixy said looking to captain Magno.

The aged pirate closed her eyes "I didn't tell her not to go, I just ordered the shuttle to launch before she got there".

"With respect captain" Pixy began "Something like that can get people killed. Regardless of how Meia may have felt you should've told her to stay on the ship".

Meia's mech landed several miles from the rest of the landing party, leaving her alone.

The dread leader buckled when her mech hit the surface and when she looked at her monitors she began shaking as her vision began blurring and shading with a red hue.

"No Meia!" Duelo yelled "You have to widen your field of vision! Meia, do you copy!"

"He should mind his own business" Meia panted as she slowly reached for the console and widened the view of her monitors. Her vision began returning to normal as did her vitals.

"Good" Duelo said before Meia gasped loudly and her vitals began rapidly increasing.

"Meia what's wrong?" Duelo asked "Meia can you hear me?"

Meia was ambushed by the sand and buried inside her Vanguard; the sand blocked the sunlight, trapping her in the darkness where the only source of light was from the cockpit of the Vanguard.

"_What should I do?"_ she asked herself _"I can't move…I'm scared"_.

"This isn't good" Duelo said as Meia's vitals continued to rise "She needs immediate assistance or she won't make it!"

On the planet's surface, the other Vanguards were still having trouble with the sand that continued to come to life and attack them no matter how many times they were struck down.

"Dammit, this stuff don't give up" Hibiki yelled after forcing the sand off of him only to have it begin swallowing him again.

Another icon blip appeared on the radar.

Another Vanguard crashed to the surface, landing forcefully on its feet and shaking the earth around it.

The Vanguard slowly began scanning before it ran off toward the trapped recon party.

"Who's piloting that one?" BC asked.

"This is Galm 1" Cipher announced over the radio "I'm approaching the AO. I'm going to see if I can shut down the defense system from the outside".

"Yo buddy" Pixy began "What happened to staying on the ship in case of emergency?"

"I'd say this counts" Cipher replied as she stopped her Vanguard outside the laser net that covered the area.

Following one of the lasers to its point of origin, Cipher found a concealed machine inside a destroyed building and quickly leveled what was left of the structure, destroying the machine, "One target down".

Locating another of the machines, Cipher destroyed it as well before a third and then a fourth, finally making room for the landing party to escape.

"We need to find Meia" Barnette cried after they were all clear of the barrier that trapped them.

An air raid siren began going off all around them.

"What is that?" Barnette asked.

On the Nirvana's bridge, Belvedere cried out "The defense system has a self destruct sequence, it must have activated after Cipher brought done the barrier. 300 seconds until detonation".

"We can't leave without Meia!" Dita cried.

"Then stop talking and start looking!" Cipher ordered as she began scanning the area.

"Dammit where is she?" Hibiki asked before seeing something rise up behind him.

Another mass of sand appeared from behind him in the form of a Vanguard and moved to attack him.

Grabbing the sand formation by what was supposed to be its shoulder Cipher pulled it away from Hibiki and threw it to the ground.

Cipher noticed part of the sand sliding away and saw gleaming armor under it, "It's solid underneath the sand! It's Meia!"

"That thing is controlling her" Barnette cried as the sand covered Vanguard got back up.

Cipher's eyes zeroed in on a giant tank nearby with a faded "LN" imprinted on it.

"Everyone, stand back!" she ordered as Meia's possessed mech got back up.

Meia's Vanguard began advancing toward Cipher who stood her ground, "That's right come on, a little closer".

Once the sand was within arm's reach of Cipher, she fired up the Vanguard's thrusters and flew backwards, using the Vanguard's sword to rupture the tank which spewed out liquid nitrogen.

The sand froze and became brittle almost immediately and Cipher gave it one final, light punch to shatter the sand.

Meia's mech collapsed to its back and the pilot inside barely opened her eyes as the sunlight finally shined back into her cockpit.

Hibiki kneeled over her, "Come on get up, we have to go!"

"Just leave me" Meia moaned weakly "Just go".

"Dammit I'm not leaving without you" Hibiki yelled "You may piss me off, but I'd feel miserable if I just left you to die here. Male or Female it doesn't matter at a time like this. We're all about to die don't you get it?" He held out the Vanguard's hand "If you don't want to die then take my hand!"

"GET UP!" Cipher yelled as she kneeled down and dragged Meia's Vanguard back to its feet. Clasping the back of the head of Meia's mech Cipher yelled, "WE'RE LEAVING NOW LET'S GO!"

All of the pilots activated the thrusters on their Vanguards and took off into the sky as the countdown continued to tick away.

When the countdown zeroed out, explosions were tracked across the planet's surface destroying everything that was once there. Thankfully the recon team had made it out in time.

"All Vanguards accounted for" Ezra said happily.

Belvedere continued, "We've also received some data".

"Very well, read it" BC told her.

Belvedere nodded, "Roger commander. Attention all units, the crops for this season are as followed. Red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, lymph cells etc. This is where the data ends".

BC came to a horrible realization and swiftly turned around "Captain this means!"

Captain Magno also realized it "It seems our enemy's intention is to harvest us for their own purpose. It's clear now that they think of us as nothing more than vegetables. If we've learned anything up to this point it's that we're dealing with truly ruthless and formidable foes".

Pixy was also visibly shaken by this.

After all the Vanguards returned to the Nirvana, Cipher promptly ejected from her mech and left the hangar, once again vanishing without a trace.

It was well into the night before Pixy finally found Cipher standing in the garden section, staring into the stream that flowed through.

"Never thought I'd see you in a place like this" he said, grabbing her attention.

"Is there a reason you keep following me today?" Cipher asked him.

Pixy held out an envelop to Cipher "Our pay for today, you got a considerable amount for saving everyone back there. My pay is only for monitoring their training in the simulations".

Cipher took the envelop and slid it into her jacket without looking at Pixy.

Pixy asked, "That actually reminds me, when did you learn to pilot the Vanguard?"

"When I climbed into it" Cipher answered, "I was watching from the hangar and realized they needed help, so I took one of the remaining Vanguards and went down there. My fighter wouldn't have survived the heat of re entry so I took the Vanguard instead".

"And you learned how to pilot it in a matter of minutes?" Pixy asked.

Cipher tilted her head back "Wasn't that difficult".

"Fair enough" Pixy said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture Cipher had dropped earlier "You dropped this by the way" he said handing it to her and slowly backing away.

Turning his back to her, he walked away, leaving Cipher alone staring at the photo of her and Pixy the night after they destroyed Excalibur.

Cipher slowly and hesitantly grabbed the photo by its top two corners again and began pulling it apart, but the second it started tearing, she stopped.

"I can't do it" she muttered "I…I just want to go back to the way things were, why did it have to happen the way it did?"

She gently pressed the photo against her chest and felt her heart beating a little faster "You weren't just my friend Larry, you were my only friend. The only one I wanted to talk to, the only one I wanted to spend time with, to laugh with…so why?..."

Pixy had returned to the hangar and set his gaze upon Cipher's F-15C and his ADFX-02, he felt a heavy burning feeling in his chest and he knew what it was…guilt.

"Not once" he said to himself as he stared at both fighters "Not once have I ever regretted any decision I've made in my life. I've never regretted anything and I never backed out of a decision once I made it…until now of course…If only I could take it all back, before I left…"

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And that's chapter 6.

Well a lot happened this chapter, too much to add in the closing credits so I'll just sum it up.

BC discovered notes and accounts about the Belkan war, more specifically reports on Cipher and Pixy.

The tension between the former friends continues to grow, but now it seems Cipher is hesitating to destroy her memories of the days when they still flew together, and Pixy seems to be regretting his actions even more now to the point he wishes he could take it all back.

Can they stay allies long enough for them to survive until the Nirvana reaches Mejerian space? or will they fall apart and endanger the entire crew?

We'll have to wait until next time! See you then!


	7. Building Anew

"Surface wound to the head, ruptured spleen and a visibly fractured femur!"

Duelo along with Hibiki, Dita and another crew member were rushing a single cart to the infirmary, lying on the cart was Meia. She had been severely injured in battle against the enemy they had come to call the Harvest.

During the battle, Hibiki had taken down an enemy trailing after Meia, she yelled at him, telling him she didn't need or want his help. While she was distracted another enemy damaged her dread before a co-op strike from both Cipher and Pixy saved her.

Cipher told the dread pilot to stay focused, which only aggravated and distracted Meia further. Meia immediately shot down two enemies before turning her attention to Cipher, telling the mercenary that she didn't need her help either before she was attacked from both sides before the Galm team could swing around to protect her.

Her dread was heavily damaged, but thanks to Cipher and Pixy the enemy was shot down before they could destroy the dread.

Gascogne's delivery ship retrieved Meia's dread and brought it back to the Nirvana, the pilot's life now slowly swaying at Death's door.

As they drew closer to the infirmary, Meia's vision began blurring and her eyes started to close, she faintly muttered a single word as she passed out "Mo…ther?"

Outside the Nirvana, the dread teams along with Galm were doing their best to deal with the enemy formation, but they had a new weapon this time, an enemy that had the ability to clone itself into decoys and attack with swift enough speed to flash by the defensive line around the Nirvana and attack the ship itself.

Since Meia was shot down, Jura had assumed the role of flight lead, but her leadership skills were horrible, she hesitated to give out her orders and either sent her allies right into enemy fire or crashing into each other.

"A-team switch to formation Alpha 1, B-team….uh well…"

Jura and Barnette collided with each other just before a third dread rammed into them, opening all of them to a direct attack, thankfully Pixy was able to save them.

Barnette yelled, "Get it together Jura, your formation is a mess!"

Jura was in a panic, she knew the formations well enough, but she had never taken the lead even in a training run, let alone an actual battle there was just too much pressure on her.

The battle continued for a few more minutes before Dita and Hibiki returned, quickly combining to from Vandread Dita.

They quickly destroyed an enemy, but failed to notice a giant space rock flying toward them, they just barely avoided a direct collision with it.

"What was that?" Jura asked them as she hovered her dread next to them "Is that all a loud mouth like you can do?"

Hibiki yelled back, "Shut up! Give me advice when you know what the hell you're doing!"

Jura growled, "I don't need a man telling me what to do!"

"Both of you shut it" Cipher yelled just before her F-15c zoomed by them "Settle your petty squabble after we deal with the enemy, until then stay focused cause I won't save you again".

Both Hibiki and Jura growled as Cipher gave her orders to Pixy telling him to go wide and around to strike at the enemy's right flank while she flew in directly.

Over the past couple of weeks Cipher had become more and more fierce and hostile in battle, on one occasion she even threatened to shoot Hibiki down herself if he didn't cut back on his attitude in battle.

While the battle continued on, BC watched from the bridge disappointed in herself, "It seems we've been taking Meia's leadership for granted. We neglected to train a secondary leader in case she was even incapacitated".

"It's because that girl wouldn't let us" Magno said. She began recalling the time she first heard of Meia, before she set out to find her as well as when she first met her and recruited her to her gang of pirates.

"She avoided human contact unless absolutely necessary, she avoided relying on people and kept herself closed off from everyone else. From the very moment I picked her I knew that eventually this day would come".

The ship shook after it took a violent hit that dropped what was left of the outer shields.

"The outer shields have fallen" Belvedere announced "Inner shields are also down to seventy percent".

"I've had enough of this" Cipher's voice said over the radios "Pixy get that bomb of yours ready!"

"Cipher?" Pixy asked.

"I'm going to bait them away from the ship, once we're clear of the dread teams fire that thing and take all of these bastards down in one go".

"Cipher, that's crazy!" Pixy said "You'll get caught in the blast".

"Well if that's what happens then you can finally say you beat me" Cipher responded "Now get the damn thing ready to fire".

Pixy sighed and resigned his argument "Galm 2, wilco".

Cipher fired her last 2 XMAA missiles at the leading wave of the next attack run to gain their attention before she flew right through their ranks baiting them away from the ship.

The mercenary's plan worked. Each of the Harvesters began shifting course and following her one after another until the bulk of their force was focused on Cipher alone.

Once they started following Cipher, Pixy ordered for all the dread pilots to fall back to escape the blast radius. Waiting for Cipher to lead the Harvesters further away Pixy took a deep breath before he released the safety on his special weapons lock.

"Galm 2" he said in a hesitant tone "Fox three".

The Multi-Purpose Burst Missile sped toward the center of the enemy formation chasing down Cipher and exploded in a mass of light blue plasma wiping out the entire group that was chasing Cipher and forcing the remaining force into a retreat.

"The enemy is retreating!" Aramone announced.

BC immediately yelled for all pilots to return to the ship, an order they were all glad to hear.

Once all the pilots had returned to the ship, the maintenance crews quickly went to work, repairing and rearming all the damaged fighters.

Cipher climbed out of her fighter and casually walked out of the hangar ignoring a small group of pilots that praised her plan and bravery that caused the enemy to retreat.

After Cipher left, Pixy walked over to the group of pilots and apologized for Cipher's cold shoulder "Don't take it personally, she's just not used to being praised by others, it makes her uncomfortable".

Pixy didn't follow Cipher this time, instead he sat on a bench in the corner of the massive hangar and crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall to get a bit of rest before the enemy returned and he knew they would.

Cipher returned to the training deck, a single large room on the Ikazuchi was a gym complete with treadmill, weights and punching bags, small and large.

Not many of the women on the ship made use of the gym, but Cipher was more than happy to use it. It gave her something to focus on while not flying and the punching bags were a great way to zero out her frustration for today.

Taking a roll of sports tape from a locker on the wall, she wrapped it around her forearms and the back of her hands before setting it on the bench and began changing into some clothes more suitable for working out.

After taking off her blazer jacket and short jeans, she now stood in just the skin tight black, knee long pants and a sport's bra. She walked over to the large punching bag, hanging from the ceiling and immediately gave it a single quick jab.

The second she hit it memories from her past came flooding back to her.

_Cipher grew up in Yuktobania, both Cipher and her mother were born in Cinigrad, the country's capital city. Cipher's father however was Osean; he was born and raised for much of his life in November city before he moved to Bana city as a college student majoring in politics. Eventually he moved to Oured, the capital of Osea, that's where he met Alena Nikanor, daughter of the Yuktobanian Prime Minister._

_It was 1963; Alena Nikanor was an aspiring writer who loved to travel as much as she could. While visiting the capital city of Osea she was so busy gazing at the sites of the city she accidently knocked over a young man reading the daily paper._

_She quickly apologized to which the man merely smiled and shrugged off the incident. Alena apologized again and not long after that the two started talking. The man introduced himself as Charles Amagi._

_The two spent a good portion of the day together and Charles offered to show Alena more of the city the next day, to which she happily agreed, it wasn't long after that before the two began falling for each other._

_In 1965, the two were married in Cinigrad, Yuktobania with the Prime Minister joyfully conducting the ceremony and Alena's older brother Seryozha Viktorovich Nikanor also attending. Two years later in 1967, Alena gave birth to a daughter, a girl they named Fiona._

_Fiona was a strong willed child, not afraid to voice her opinion on a matter and always ready to defend something or someone important to her. When she was 11 she had gotten into a fight with other students at her school._

_She had found them torturing a stray dog that had a large cut on the side of its stomach and a rope leash that was tied so tight the dog's skin worn away skin was beginning to grow around it._

_Fiona was so furious with the cold hearted matter the four boys were treating the helpless dog. She immediately ran over to them and pushed her way past two of them before punching the obvious leader of the group in his face, easily knocking him to the ground with a bloody nose._

_The other boys didn't take long to react; two of them restrained Fiona while the other and the group's leader both hit her in her stomach. Thankfully two police officers showed up just as it happened and the group of boys quickly ran off._

_Helping Fiona and making sure she was alright, one of the officers asked her what happened and she began explaining everything with tears in her eyes._

_Once she was done explaining, the cops praised her for her bravery, but told her it's never a good idea to just charge in when you're outnumbered, you have to be smart._

_The cops took Fiona home and promised to take the stray dog a black Labrador to the closest vet to be treated._

_Two weeks later, two same two officers appeared at Cipher's home and showed her that the dog had made a full recovery. They also explained that the day before they picked up the dog, that someone tried to rob the vet's office, but the black lab had made him run off._

_The dog was clearly loyal and one of the officers explained that in Old Norse mythology there was a demon hound named Garmer who guarded the gates of hell, but was very loyal to his master._

_Fiona's parents had no objections to taking the dog into their family, but they didn't like the idea of naming it after a demon hound, so instead they named him Galm._

Cipher hit the bag again, and then a second time with a furious yell, as she began remembering more from her past.

_Cipher was 17 now and in her senior year of high school. After getting home one day she changed out of her school uniform and grabbed Galm's leash to take the old dog for a quick walk._

_She knew the dog was getting older and weaker, she knew it wouldn't be long before he passed away, but try as she might she couldn't prepare herself for it, she tried not to think about it as much as possible._

_While walking Galm, she heard a gunshot come from inside a gas station and saw a single man running out of the station with barely a handful of cash. Instinctively Fiona ran inside to see what she could do to help, but what she found terrified her._

_Lying on the ground bleeding from a gunshot was Ricardo Vorshov, the now retired police officer who helped her when she was younger. Both Fiona and the station's clerk did what they could to stop the bleeding, but the bullet had gone through one of his lungs. He was long gone by the time any help arrived._

_As a partial witness, Fiona was questioned by the police and even saw the security footage from the gas station, she burned the image of the robber into her mind, she didn't know how or when, but she was going to make him answer for what he did._

Again, Cipher hit the bag, growling and grunting from the pain of her memories as they continued to haunt her. Every time she hit the bag she added more and more force to it, if it wasn't for the hard leather used to cover and case the training equipment, she probably would've destroyed it by now.

_Fiona spent every bit of her allowance on martial arts classes, more specifically Muay Thai. She was determined to train and learn ways to not only defend herself, but what she cared most about. At least that's what she told herself, at times she wondered if she was working to defend herself and others or just wanting to become strong enough to take revenge on those who deserve it._

_Regardless of her reasons she was determined, quickly advancing to the top of her class and even winning a regional tournament, her master sadly passed away in his sleep one night the same night her dog a loyal companion Galm did._

Cipher could feel the tears slowly running down her face, but as always she forced them back and continued on. Again and again she continued to hit the bag, landing blow after blow.

She remembered a time when she was 19 and in her first year of college, she had been expelled from the school for injuring another student and damaging the student's car as well.

_The student was a senior and very drunk at the time, he was hitting on Cipher who stated over and over that she wasn't interested, but eventually the male student tried to force himself on her. Cipher quickly dropped her bag and slammed the student's face into the hood of his car before spinning him around and throwing him into the windshield of his car._

_Campus security was called and arrested Cipher and the drunken student, both of them were expelled, Fiona for violence against another student as well as vandalism of personal property and the male student for breaking the rule of no alcohol on campus and public drunkenness._

_That was the turning point in her life. Both of her parents were furious with her for being expelled, even though they understood she was defending herself they firmly agreed that she went too far while doing so._

_Aggravated herself, Fiona quickly ran out of the house and began walking around town, unfortunately the night just kept getting worse and worse for her. A group from a local gang managed to piss her off as well and they got pretty much the same treatment the drunken student had gotten, it was four against one, but nothing she hadn't been through before._

_Using her martial arts training, she easily beat each of them into the ground while only getting hit once. Immediately after the fight began, one of the gang smashed a beer bottle on the back of her head, a painful hit to be sure, but she still managed to beat them all before running away._

_She returned home, early that morning to find that neither of her parents were there. At the time she didn't think much of it, she figured they were out looking for her and would be back soon so she went to bed after showering._

_After sleeping for a few hours she awoke and walked into the kitchen where her mother was waiting for her. After a short talk, Fiona told her mother that she decided to join the military since her chances of being accepted at another college were pretty much zero._

_Neither of her parents objected to it, in fact they encouraged it. So soon after, Fiona was on her way to the Yuktobanian military._

_5 years, that's how long Fiona was in the Yuktobanian Air Force before she left and became a mercenary. For four years she had flown as a mercenary, but her skills weren't really used until the start of the Belkan war in 1995. At first she started as a recon pilot for ground forces, but was quickly recognized as a more than exceptional pilot and hired by the Republic of Ustio as a mercenary fighter pilot…a month later, that's when she met Pixy._

Cipher remembered the first time she met Pixy; she stopped hitting the punching bag while the memory replayed in her mind.

_Since she became a mercenary she hid her identity entirely, she wore a men's flightsuit that was padded on the inside to conceal her female figure, and took a prototype voice filter before she left the military and implanted it into her helmet's communicator._

_Everyone assumed Cipher was a man and she never removed her helmet around others, it was by complete accident that Pixy learned her secret._

_Cipher's room was right next to Pixy's and the night after they shot down a squadron of bombers targeting Valais Air Base Pixy found out Cipher's secret. The pilot was reading a book and entered Cipher's room by mistake; Pixy walked over to what he thought was his bed until he heard a surprised gasp to his left and looked._

_Surprised himself, he saw a woman sitting at a desk reading a book of her own dressed only in her red undergarments._

_He didn't know how or why, but Pixy knew it was Cipher._

_Pixy tried to make his expression calm, but he was really surprised to see the woman in his partner's room "I'm sure there's a really interesting story behind this"._

"_You can leave now" Cipher told him "And don't say a word"._

_Pixy decided it best to not try and push the conversation, so he left and returned to his room instead, but finding out his flight lead's secret was something he couldn't get off his mind._

_On three occasions Pixy tried to get Cipher to open up a little, but only when they were alone. He knew she was trying to keep her gender a secret, but couldn't figure out why._

_After their first mission in Area B7R, the two mercenary pilots defeated a well known Belkan squadron, The Grun flight._

_During the air battle, Grun's flight lead gained a persistent lock on Cipher, but she managed to keep shaking off his missiles. The other members of Grun were shot down, but the squadron's leader was persistent and quick on his reflexes. Each sharp turn or evade Cipher pulled, he followed._

_It was thanks to Pixy, firing at him that Cipher's pursuer finally broke away; Cipher swiftly turned her eagle around and downed the enemy flight lead with a single shot._

_It was that night that Cipher decided it was time to give Pixy some answers._

Cipher heard the ship's alarm accompanied by BC's voice stating that the enemy had returned.

Leaving the gym and heading for the hangar, Cipher didn't bother to change her clothes, she had to find out something and she needed to find out now.

"_I think you deserve some answers" Cipher said with her helmet and voice filter still on._

"_I do like answers" Pixy told her with a small smile._

_Cipher looked at the setting sun in the distance before she started explaining things._

"_I concealed my gender because I'm tired of drunken personal coming on to me, before and during my time in the military it was all the same" Cipher told him "And as for my identity I'm a deserter, from the Yuktobanian Air Force. Officially I was declared KIA; I faked my death during a training exercise against another squadron. I sabotaged my fighter's engines before take off"._

"_Why?" Pixy asked her._

"_I wanted to be free of it all" she told him "My whole life I've been bound by rules and regulations about something. I feel terrible about deserting my country's military and even more terrible when I think about how the news reached my parents, but I want a chance to go in the direction I want. Not the direction others want me to go"._

"_Still, faking your death is pretty extreme" Pixy said "How'd you manage to get away?"_

"_I secretly placed a scuba tank and some webs into the cockpit of my fighter that night while no one was looking. I didn't eject as I glided my fighter over the water's surface. I told everyone the ejection handle was stuck and the canopy wasn't popping. After my fighter began sinking, I put on the tank and fins I brought with me and swam underwater to the shore line. It was easy to slip by the outside of the base with so many people in a panic over a downed pilot"._

_Cipher paused for a moment "From there I stowed away on a cargo plane and it landed in Ustio. That's when I started my career as a merc; I'm not really good at anything else. My only skills are as a human weapon so I might as well make money off of it"._

_Cipher turned around to return to the Air Base "Anyway, that's my life's story"._

Climbing back into her fighter, Cipher felt a warm sensation inside her chest; she almost had a sad look on her face when she stared down at her flightstick, "This is Galm 1. I'm taking off" she said quietly.

"_I'm done"_ she thought to herself _"I'm done living in the past. It's long gone and never coming back, I'm done feeling sorry for myself, I'm going to keep moving forward now"._

Once Cipher took off from the Nirvana, she took her place in front of Pixy and looked over to Vandread Dita "So" she said calmly "Do you have a plan or something?"

Hibiki smirked and gave a thumbs up to the F-15 from the Vandread's cockpit "You'll see, I've got it all covered this time".

Cipher grunted a laugh before she looked over to Jura "How about you? Ready to take command?"

Jura replied with a bit of seduction in her voice "Well now, you'll just have to wait and see".

Cipher grunted another laugh before she looked over her shoulder to Pixy's fighter, "Larry…" she began, her voice had changed, quiet and almost distant now "Focus on giving cover to the dreads, engage enemies as needed, but we're defending this time".

"Galm 2, roger" Pixy replied as the enemy formation came into view.

The battle started almost immediately, the new dart shaped enemy duplicated itself until there were seven of them, the clones along with the remaining cube types all attacked at once. Several enemies slipped through the dread formations to attack the Nirvana, but the Galm team wasn't going to let the ship take another hit.

Easily and almost one after another, cube type after cube type were shot down, not a single one would get through as long as the pilots of Galm team were still flying.

"Alright let's do this!" Hibiki cheered before he and Dita started charging the Vandread's dual cannons.

"Everyone into position" Jura ordered to all of the dread pilots.

The female pilots flew away from each other and stopped in certain position at varying distances from each other. If one were looking from the outside of the battle he would think it to be a cluster of moving stars.

"All pilots, shields up" Jura ordered once everyone was in position.

Cipher and Pixy stayed next to the Nirvana, when the shields went up and watched as the Vanguard fired its weapons at its own allies, bouncing and deflecting its lasers off of all the allied shields causing a net to trap all of the enemies in a web that eventually killed them as the lasers continuously arced about.

There was only a single enemy left when the battle was over, the dart shaped enemy that brought down Meia, it was damaged and attempting to flee from the battle.

"Pixy, follow me and engage from the rear" Cipher ordered.

"Pixy here, roger that!"

The Galm team separated from the dread teams and pursued the damaged enemy.

Cipher broke away from Pixy and flew around as fast as her eagle would let her, when she put enough distance between her and the enemy; she turned around and began flying head on toward it while Pixy approached it from behind.

Once they were both close enough the two pilots fired a single missile in perfect synchronization. The two missiles quickly closed in on the lone enemy and impacted it from both sides, destroying it just before Cipher and Pixy passed each other with their fighters turned the same way it did during their final battle over Avalon Dam before they were transported to the far future.

Back on the Nirvana's bridge, Belvedere gave the radar a quick scan before she turned and smiled "All enemies confirmed destroyed, looks like we've survived another one".

Duelo's screen appeared on the captain's terminal "Captain" he said calmly.

"Yes Duelo what is it?" the captain asked him.

The doctor smiled "I'd like to report that Meia has awakened and will make a full recovery".

"I see" Magno replied while concealing her smile "That is good news, thank you Duelo and good work on taking care of her".

Duelo nodded before turning off his screen. The pilots had all returned to the Nirvana, they all deserved a night of rest after their ordeal today.

Everyone left the hangar quickly for various reasons; only Cipher and Pixy were left.

Pixy looked over to Cipher from the corner of his eye before nodding "See you later Cipher".

"Larry" Cipher said as he began walking away.

Pixy stopped just as Cipher calmly walked over to him and stopped in front of him.

"Thanks" she said as she held out her open hand.

Pixy was surprised, Cipher was, acting friendly again; something he thought he'd never see again.

"I said it would take a while to start trusting you again" Cipher said before her eyes faltered and looked toward the ground "I think I'm ready to start trying".

"Good to here" Pixy said with a small smile as he grabbed Cipher's hand and shook it "Thank you Cipher".

Cipher gave him a small smile and nodded before she walked away, she seemed almost happy; the clenching feeling in her chest had been replaced with a warm, lighter than air feeling now. _"From now on" _she thought _"I'm going to keep moving forward"._

The crew of the Nirvana celebrated their hard earned victory that night, almost everyone attended the party, save for BC, Cipher and Meia of course.

After the party ended many of the crew just fell asleep where they were instead of returning to their rooms. Jura and Barnette feel asleep sitting against a wall in the back of the kitchen with Jura resting her head on Barnette's shoulders.

Hibiki was sitting reversed at one of the table's with his back leaning against the edge and Dita across from him.

Meia had entered the cafeteria and walked over to Hibiki and looked down at him, she didn't know what to think or feel at that point. While searching her thoughts, the captain walked up behind her.

"They all did their very best out there today" she said.

Meia looked behind her "Oh captain. I was just".

The captain reached down and picked up Hibiki's jacket before placing it over the young pilot "It's ironic" she smiled "He's the exact opposite of you, this passionate little fool. And yet he's won everyone's hearts and right from under our noses. You know Meia the two of you are a lot alike you and this rascal. The only difference is in how you share your feelings".

"Captain I" Meia began.

Magno quickly cut her off with a smile "Meia, don't you think its time you found some forgiveness? For yourself I mean".

Meia looked down at the floor "I'm sorry captain. For the way I've acted".

The captain shook her head "You have no need to apologize to me dear, it's the others you should be apologizing to. Especially young Hibiki here, it was because of his reckless idea that we were able to win today. Of course Cipher and Pixy also had a hand in our victory; the two of them alone defended this ship that we call home while everyone was getting into position. I'm sure if you open yourself up to them, they won't turn you away Meia".

Meia pulled her eyes away from Magno, but before she could say anything the captain merely smiled at her and began walking away.

"It's late Meia, go get some sleep and think about what I said. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning".

Meia took one last look at Hibiki before leaving to return to her room for the night. Meanwhile in the ship's hangar Cipher and Pixy were talking again, slowly trying to rebuild their lost friendship.

Pixy laughed, "I had thought, that little move you pulled had broken the kid's back, but when he just jumped back up and yelled " Pixy threw his arms out to the side for effect "That was awesome!" the pilot lowered his arms again "I was pretty surprised never expected him to be able to take a hit like that".

Cipher looked down at the glass of whine in her hand "He was annoying" she said calmly "But he was a good pilot, loyal, friendly and dedicated" she chuckled "He just didn't know the rule about sneaking up on me".

Pixy fell silent for a second before holding up his glass toward Cipher "To PJ and the fallen".

"To the fallen" Cipher repeated as they gave a toast to all the pilots that fell before them during the Belkan war.

The two pilots drank the last of their wine before returning to their rooms in the brig for the night. It wasn't a large step forward, but it was a good enough start for him, Pixy was just happy that Cipher was opening up to him again.


	8. The Hermit vs The Queen of Swords

"So that's a mission station?" BC asked seeing the space station in front of the ship, "I never thought I'd see one".

The captain looked to her subordinate, "During the Terraforming days they really prospered as relay bases and resupply stations. Now those days are long past and whatever's left is just waiting for us to take it".

A salvage team was sent to the station to gather what they could, the team consisted of Meia as the group leader, Dita, Hibiki, Barnette, Jura, Pyoro and Cipher who didn't really seem to care what was going on.

"Meia here we've reached the central chamber. We're going to look around and get what we can".

"Roger Meia" BC replied from the Nirvana, "Be careful down there".

The salvage team went to work gathering everything that looked like it would still work except Cipher who walked away from the rest of the group and up a deck before returning to the main chamber.

Leaning against the railing, she looked down at everyone as they continued salvaging.

Last night Cipher had a dream, a dream of when she first became a mercenary going by the name Cipher and the callsign of Galm.

After faking her death, Cipher fled from Yuktobonia by stowing away on a 747. Sneaking out to the runway through the luggage carousel Cipher sabotaged the breaks of one of the fuel trucks and used that has cover to sneak onto the plane while the workers were distracted.

Carrying only a large military duffle bag with her she quickly threw it into the compartment and climbed in after it before burying herself under the luggage waiting for the plane to take off.

After the fuel truck was dealt with things were clear on the runway, with all passenger luggage finally loaded, the plane finally started rolling forward before taking off.

Many long and dreary hours later, the plane finally landed and Cipher patiently waited for her chance to sneak out without being seen. Sneaking out of the plane she bolted across the runway taking cover if she needed to eventually reaching the end and sneaking around the fence line.

She was now in the country of Belka and ready to begin her new life…of course she had to start it first.

It was purely by chance that she became a mercenary, something she never thought she'd do. At first she cut her hair short and wore loose men's clothing to try and conceal her gender as best she could and for a while it worked.

Walking back from a movie one night, Cipher spotted a small gang trying to rob an elderly couple and she immediately snapped. Quickly sneaking up behind the thugs, she placed one of them in a violent headlock and took his gun shooting the leader in his shoulder causing him to drop his own gun.

The third member of the group immediately turned around and shot at Cipher, unaware that his fellow thug was between them and ended up killing him, something Cipher cared little about. With the thug she had restrained set for the reaper; she pushed him forward and stepped in behind him as he fell on his friend.

Grabbing the thug's hand, Cipher twisted his wrist and drove her index and middle fingers behind his collarbone. Hooking her fingers behind the bone she pulled forward snapping the bone out of position and causing intense pain along with it.

The thug screamed in pain as the collarbone was snapped allowing Cipher time to finish him off with a single, but vicious straight punch to the head.

With all of the thugs incapacitated, Cipher took the guns away from them and dropped them into a nearby storm drain before fleeing not even giving the elderly couple time to thank her.

Cipher ran for a few blocks before slowing down to avoid suspicion. She had run further away from her apartment and had to double back, but her night was about to get even more violent when she noticed that someone was following her.

She first noticed the man when she stopped running and clocked him again when she turned through an alley to cut past a shopping district. This man was good at tailing someone, he kept an inconsistent distance with her, but was always had a visual on her. Finally getting tired of it Cipher made one last turn into an empty alleyway and climbed onto a dumpster before lifting herself onto the ledge of a nearby window.

The bald man that was following her turned into the alley and looked around for her before cautiously proceeding into the alley itself.

Once he was a few feet in Cipher dropped down to attack him, but the man jumped forward and spun around to face her.

Her ambush failed, but Cipher wasn't about to give up that easily she charged at the person following her and threw a punch that he easily avoided before retaliating.

The bald man ducked to the side before jabbing at Cipher's stomach, but Cipher stepped forward and got inside his curve and jabbed her open hand into his throat stunning him long enough for her to hit him several times, but eventually he countered her.

He slapped away one of her punches before blocking the other and curling his arm around it to trap it before pulling Cipher toward him and kneeing her in the stomach. After he hit her he threw her against a wall and tried to hit her with a jumping side kick, but Cipher dived out of the way and kicked him in the back of his knee causing him to fall under his own weight.

Her stalker was now down on one knee and Cipher took the opportunity to finish him off, but this was only a feign.

Cipher tried to punch him, but he slapped it away with a swift swing of his arm that flew just as fast as the punch itself. Trying to hit him again her second strike failed the same way and the stalker grinned at her in a taunting manner.

Cipher fell for the taunt and tried to hit him with a flurry of strikes each of them failed as he slapped them away before holding his arms out to block the final two and then wrapping his arms around hers and pulling Cipher into a head but.

Cipher stumbled back and the stalker jumped up hooked his arm around her torso and pushed her against the wall before kneeing her in the stomach and dropping his elbow against her back as she hunched over.

Cipher fell to her knees gasping in pain just before her assailant wrapped his arm around her neck and dragged her to her feet.

"Just relax mate" he said in an English sounding accent, "This is all over now just relax and give in".

Cipher kept struggling only forcing the man to tighten his grip. The man leaned his head in closer to Cipher's ear and told her once more to stop struggling.

In one last act of desperation, Cipher quickly grabbed the man by the top of his head and dropped to her knees dragging his head down with her and forcing his chin to smash into her shoulder making him stumble back.

Cipher jumped back to her feet and slammed the man's head against the dumpster before punching him in his kidney and then hooking him in the stomach before kneeing him in the same place and then spinning around to kick him in the chest.

The man once again countered her, at the last possible second he grabbed her foot and pushed it back forcing Cipher off balance, giving him a chance to get behind her. Grabbing Cipher by the back of her neck, the man placed his fingers and thumb against the nerve centers at the back base of Cipher's neck and forced her to her knees as he squeezed tighter and tighter causing her intense pain.

"Now are you going to calm down?" he asked her "Or does this have to get worse".

Cipher furious, not only did she lose, but now she was completely helpless against this person and whatever he intended to do with her and for the first time in her life she was afraid, terrified of what might happen to her.

She had never felt this kind of fear before and knowing that she couldn't fight back any longer made it worse. Without even realizing it she begged him to stop in her normal voice which surprised the man, but he didn't lessen his grip.

"Ah" he exclaimed, "A Shelia huh?" he asked sounding completely surprised.

Cipher tried to take a steady breath, couldn't stop shaking, "Let me go" she told him.

The man quickly let go of her and stepped back as Cipher crawled forward before turning around and resting against the wall.

"Where'd a Shelia like you learn to fight like that?" he asked her.

"I took classes during my senior year in high school" Cipher told him.

"Figures" the man answered, "You can't just pick up moves like that. Clearly you dedicated yourself to learning them, Muay Thai right?" he asked her and Cipher nodded. The man continued to stare down at her and finally introduced himself, "The name's Jimmy Vanderwall".

"What do you want from me?" Cipher asked him.

Jimmy was hurt, but had a pleased smile on his face, "I saw what you did back there to those lowlifes. It got me curious about you so I followed after you and even let you notice me".

"Let me notice you?" Cipher wondered.

Jimmy nodded, "Aye, if I didn't want you to see me Shelia you wouldn't have. I followed after you hoping you would take a stand against me. I have to admit for a while there I was beginning to wonder if you were going to call me out or keep trying to lose me".

"So why were you following me?" Cipher asked him.

Jimmy kept smiling as if he was really happy, "I wanted to see how good you were" he told her, "The way you dealt with those thugs showed some skill and training so I wanted to see just how good you were" he stopped to pull a box of cigarettes from his pocket and placed one in the corner of his mouth before lighting it, "And after seeing you in action I have to say you're someone I could use in my crew".

"I don't run with gangs" Cipher told him with a violent tone.

"Don't insult me by comparing me to those lowlifes" Jimmy told her, "I'm a mercenary and I want you to join my team" he gripped his cigarette between his fingers and pointed at Cipher, "We could use someone like you, we bring in quite a bit of money and live some good lives".

"What kind of mercenary?" Cipher asked him.

"We mostly do security jobs for corporations and private citizens who are willing to pay enough. Occasionally we're even hired by the military for a job they don't want to use their people on".

Jimmy dropped his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it to rub it out and stepped over to Cipher who dropped back into a defensive stance even though she was backed to a wall.

"If you're interested you can find us at this address" he told her before dropping a card at her feet, "Just drop my name at the door and they'll let you in".

After that the mercenary began walking away, but stopped and looked back at Cipher, "Will you be able to make it back to your place alright?" he asked her.

"I'll be fine" Cipher told him after getting to her feet.

Jimmy smiled one last time before walking off expressing his wish to hear a desirable answer from her soon.

After he was gone Cipher reached down and picked up the card he dropped and read the address on it before looking up and returning home.

The next night Cipher made her way to the address and found two guys outside a steel door who immediately looked at her and told her she was lost.

"Out of my way" Cipher said as she approached the door forcing the two guards to act.

"I'm looking for Vanderwall" she told them in a threatening voice, "Now get out of my way or I'll kill both of you".

Cipher pushed her way past both of them and knocked on the door. Once the doorman slid open the slot in the door he looked at Cipher and then closed it before opening the door and letting her in.

"Good to see you again Shelia" the doorman said…it was Vanderwall. After he closed the door behind them he told another man to watch the door as he opened a doorway leading underground, "Let's go introduce you to the rest of the team".

That night started Cipher on her path as a mercenary a night she would never forget.

"I'm surprised the captain still remembers this station" Dita said as she spun around to look at everything.

"Officially it's called a Mission" Pyoro told her.

"Cut the chatter you two" Meia told them, "We've got work to do here so let's not waste anymore time".

"You call this work?" Pyoro asked her, "All you're doing is looting the place".

"Then call it gathering abandoned assets" Cipher called from the balcony above them, "There's no one else around to use them so that means its fair game".

"What are you doing up there?" Meia asked her.

"Keeping look out" Cipher responded in an emotionless tone, "We can't just assume we're alone here".

Meia knew she had a point and returned to work checking various pieces of equipment before discarding or adding it to their salvage.

Cipher continued to watch them from above before noticing something fly by in the shadows above her, "Like I said" she muttered before calling down to them, "There's someone else here fan out and be on guard".

The salvage team spread out and began searching for whatever Cipher saw, Hibiki saw something from the corner of his eye and took off in the same direction.

"I know it came this way" Hibiki said after stopping in one of the corridors.

"Should we have gone off alone?" Pyoro asked him.

"We can cover more ground if we split up" Hibiki told the NAVI bot before something big and furry dropped down in front of them.

"What the heck is that thing?" the young pilot wondered when he saw the furry creature smiling at him before it suddenly lunged forward and grabbed hold of Pyoro, licking the helpless machine as it screamed.

"Knock it off Utan" a strong male voice said from behind Hibiki.

Hibiki quickly turned around to see a tall man dressed in strange tribal clothing with some kind of paint on his face and a red eye patch covering his right eye.

"You're a man!" Hibiki gasped, "Did you come here to save us?" he asked taking a single step toward the man before he pulled a gun.

Hibiki froze when he saw the barrel of the gun aimed at his forehead. The man smirked before darting around Hibiki and wrenching his arm behind his back before crouching down and using the young pilot as a shield as he stared at the person in front of them.

Meia was attempting to sneak up on the man armed with her laser ring, but the man sensed her presence and placed Hibiki between them.

"You're a woman" the man noted after seeing Meia.

"What about it?" Meia asked him.

The man quickly stood up and released Hibiki, "I have a policy against killing women" he told her before hearing the distinct sounds of steel sliding against steel and the hammer of a gun clicking back.

He smiled as he tilted his hand and released his gun, "Well it seems you have me surrounded".

Jura was behind him with her rapier aimed at a vital spot in the man's neck and Barnette armed with her pistol.

"What's a man doing here?" Jura wondered as Barnette took his gun.

"Are you some kind of gang?" the man asked them.

"We prefer to be called pirates" Meia told him.

"Even that little lady over there?" the man asked looking at Hibiki.

"Hey I'm a guy buster!" Hibiki yelled.

The man was silent for a second before he began laughing, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh its just…you gotta admit it's real easy to mistake you for a girl since…your such a cute little thing".

Hibiki glared at that man until Dita began screaming behind them, the furry animal the man had called Utan was licking Dita's leg as the red haired pilot screamed, "I'm not a lollipop".

The man pointed his thumb over to Dita and Utan silently asking Meia if he may put a stop to it. Keeping her weapon trained on him Meia nodded and allowed him to break it up.

"Alright Utan that'll be enough out of you" he said as he picked up the animal which smiled at him in an apologetic way. "In case you haven't noticed I'm in trouble and you're over here being useless". He smiled as he took Pyoro from Utan and yelled, "Now!" before turning around and throwing the NAVI bot at Meia hitting her in the head.

"Damn you!" Barnette growled as she took aim at the man, but Utan jumped on her head and knocked her down before reclaiming Pyoro.

Jura stepped forward and swung her rapier at the man who jumped into a back flip avoiding the sword before escaping.

"Get back here you snake!" Hibiki yelled as the man fled.

The station began shaking as the man ran away, outside several large objects were launched from the station and massive guns revealed themselves from inside the station, all of them targeting the Nirvana.

"All hands prepare for battle!" BC ordered from the bridge.

The large objects fired from the station began ejecting strange square shaped machine which immediately began advancing toward the Nirvana firing upon the ship. The salvage team inside the station returned to their ships and launched into battle everyone except Cipher.

"Hey where's Cipher?" Jura asked when she realized the F-15 wasn't with them.

"Is she still on the station?" Meia wondered.

"We can't go back for her now" Hibiki told them, "We have to deal with the enemy first then we can go save her".

Pixy's voice came over the radios, "This is Galm 2 I'm taking off".

Meia contacted him, "Pixy, Cipher hasn't left the station yet I'm sure she can handle herself so for now our priority is to protect the Nirvana".

Pixy was silent for a second as he absorbed what Meia told him, "Galm 2 roger".

It didn't take long for the battle to erupt into a small war zone, dreads and these hostile machines surrounded the combat area.

"Galm 2 splash one" Pixy yelled after scoring a kill.

"Mr. Alien!" Dita called out, "Let's combine now".

Hibiki declined the offer, speeding past both Dita and Meia with the Vanguard's battleaxe active, swiftly striking down two enemies before a third attacked him causing him to lose his weapon.

"Dammit, these bastards aren't going to beat me" the raven haired teen growled, trying to push the enemy back.

"So?" Jura asked him seductively.

"So what?" Hibiki fired back oblivious to her tone.

"Why don't we combine now?" the blonde pilot asked him.

"Yeah no" Hibiki said to her before the enemy pushing against him was destroyed by Pixy.

"Cipher is leaving the station" Aramone announced, "She's moving in to engage the closest enemy formation now. There's also a second ship taking off from the station as well, one I can't identify".

"Dita, Hibiki" Cipher said over the radio, "Combine your fighters and destroy the station, those things have got to be controlled by a system somewhere on the station. If we sever the link they'll shut down".

"Tch, fine" Hibiki said before flying towards Dita.

Once again a bright light engulfed both fighters and left behind the giant Vandread which destroyed the station in a single blast from its shoulder mounted cannons and just like Cipher guessed, the remaining hostiles all shut down and began drifting through space.

"What a waste" the captain sighed after watching the station get destroyed.

"Hey that's my line!" a male voice said to her before an image of the man they encountered on the station appeared. "One of those things damaged my engine because I wanted to be nice and help you ladies out. What do you plan on doing about it?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Magno asked him, "We're pirates and we never asked for your help to begin with".

"Is that so?" the man asked her before holding up Pyoro, "Well I guess I'll just sell this little guy and see if I make enough to repair my ship then".

"Oh no!" Dita cried, "We left Pyoro behind!"

The captain sighed, "We've got no choice, come on board then".

The man's tone quickly changed, "Righty oh!" he said giving her the sign for ok, "And maybe while I'm there we can do a little business".

When the radio link was turned off, BC looked to her captain, "Is this wise captain? We know nothing about this man he could turn out to be a threat".

"Pyoro is one of our crew BC" Magno told her, "We can't just abandon him and besides if that man tries anything funny we'll simply relieve him of all of his worldly possessions".

Down in the docking bay, the man's ship landed and a ramp extended allowing him and the animal he called Utan to get off, once on board he noticed Hibiki and Dita to the side and tossed them Pyoro before casually turning his attention to all the armed guards in front of him, "My this ship certainly has a lot of lovely young ladies on it".

He showed no signs of hesitation or fear of the women regardless of the weapons they had trained on him. The man moved through the crowd of women handing small cards to them as he introduced himself, "The name's Rabat businessman and trader, pleased to meet you". He noticed Jura and Cipher standing off in the corner, "Oh you're that lovely lady with the saber" he said before holding a card out for here, "Here why don't you take one as a memento".

"I don't want one" Jura said immediately withdrawing from the man.

Cipher placed her hand on Jura's shoulder and gently pulled her back as she stepped over to the man who called himself Rabat, "You're coming with me to see the captain, hands where I can see them and you walk in front of me the whole time".

Rabat noticed she had a gun pointed at him and knew it was best to not provoke or disobey her and calmly agreed to meet Magno on the bridge.

As Rabat started walking, Cipher stopped next to Jura and whispered, "Have someone search his ship".

Escorting Rabat to the bridge where the captain was waiting, Cipher stayed a constant six steps behind him remaining well outside arm's reach and well within her reaction time if he tried anything.

"So tell me" Rabat began as the elevator opened, "How many people have you killed?"

Cipher's expression didn't change, but Rabat could tell he struck a note with his inquiry. Cipher tossed him a pair of the same handcuffs BC used on Pixy and the other men when they first arrived on the Nirvana, "Put them on" she told him.

Rabat smiled at her as he slid his hands into the cuffs, "So?" he asked her, "How many? That ice cold glare in your eyes. That's a look that only comes from someone who's killed more than once".

Cipher told him to get on the elevator and remain quiet as they moved up to the bridge despite Rabat trying to get a response out of her.

The elevator opened once again and Rabat stepped off the elevator following Cipher's directions and staying ahead of her. Entering the bridge, Cipher heard Pixy call to her, "Yo Buddy, still alive?"

"Ah so you're here" the captain said to Rabat who was now standing in front of her.

"Well I didn't have much of a choice now did I?" Rabat smiled as he looked over at Cipher who still had her gun trained on him.

"Permission to shoot him?" Cipher asked the captain, "We have Pyoro back on the ship so there's no need to keep him alive now".

"Now now Cipher" Magno hummed, "There's no need to be so rude to our guest now is there?"

"Cipher?" Rabat hummed, "So that's your name?"

Cipher didn't answer and her expression remained a mixture of hostile and threatening, Rabat decided to return his attention to the captain, "So I noticed that most of your crew are women".

"Indeed" Magno told him, "The men you've seen are prisoners of war. We come from Mejere they come from Tarak".

"Really?" Rabat wondered as he began looking around the captain's console, "Do you treat all of prisoners so casually?" he asked her, "Last time I checked a prisoner isn't allowed to roam freely".

Magno explained it to him, "They have they're uses and have proven quite capable many times so I've allowed them a bit of freedom on board".

"So what about this guy?" he asked nodding his head toward Pixy.

"Pixy is one of the best pilots I've ever seen, he along with Cipher here assist the dread teams in defending the ship if we ever fall under attack".

"I see" Rabat said.

"So what is it you want from us?" Magno asked him.

"Oh nothing really" Rabat answered, "My engines were damaged so I just wanted to come aboard to make the repairs and maybe do a little business with you while I'm here" he held his hand up in the ok gesture, "I guess you could call me a trader of sorts. I've got a lot of things I've salvaged from a lot of places. You might find something useful in my wares".

"So you're a con man" Cipher said, "The casual stance under duress, the flashy way of talking…Both signs of a con artist".

"Cipher" Magno said looking over to the mercenary pilot, "You're overstepping your bounds".

Cipher holstered her Five Seven, "Understood. I'll take my leave then".

After Cipher left, Magno looked back at Rabat, "Understand this young man. I've no intention of being friendly. If it does turn out that you're up to something you won't make it off this ship alive".

"Righty right" Rabat replied with an unconcerned smile, "Now that that's all settled where would be a good place for me to start my repairs and set up my shop while I'm at it".

"I'll have BC show you where you'll be staying for your visit" the captain told him, "I have a business matter to discuss with Pixy so if you'll excuse us".

BC walked over to Rabat and told him to follow her, leaving the hangar with the obvious con artist.

"You sure you don't just want us to get rid of him?" Pixy asked her, "I know you can tell he's up to something".

"He has his own agenda that much is certain" Magno said before looking at a deck of tarot cards and pulling the top card out, "The Hermit huh? An outsider, a mystery, someone who is not to be trusted".

"It doesn't matter if he's the Hermit, the Chariot or the Devil" Pixy said to her, "I'm pretty sure a bullet works on him all the same".

"That reminds me actually" Magno said, looking up to him, "You and Cipher are getting along now it seems".

Pixy lowered his head to the side, "I think she's finally starting to trust me again".

"Well that's good" Magno told him, "Allies can't cooperate if they don't trust each other…here" she handed him two envelops and a small box, "Yours and Cipher's pay for today and a little something extra to show my gratitude".

Pixy thanked the aged pirate before taking his leave from the bridge. After he left Magno sighed, "Those two have gone through Hell and they both still have a long way to go before they make it out".

"Captain?" Belvedere asked her accidentally overhearing what she said.

"Oh it's nothing my dear" the captain smiled, _"I wonder how long it will be before those two realize the truth"._

Not long after Pixy left, BC returned to the bridge and immediately expressed her concern about Rabat, but the captain dismissed her worries even though she agreed with them.

Pixy wandered past the hangar and heard both Rabat's and Cipher's voices inside and hid behind the door as he peeked in to survey the scene.

"There are no signs of damage anywhere on your ship" Cipher told the conman.

"I was able to finish the repairs faster than expected" Rabat told her as he walked closer.

"Don't play me for a fool" Cipher said, "There are no signs of recent damage or repairs, you just wanted to dock with our ship so you could achieve something, so what is your plan? And don't try to lie to me again".

Rabat smiled as he gently grabbed Cipher's chin, "Maybe I just wanted to see you again. After our little encounter on the station back there maybe I'm just interested in you is all".

Cipher only gave him a smirk as a response before Rabat noticed something was off, "That smell…" he muttered, "Righty right" he said taking his hand off Cipher's chin, "Maybe we'll take a rain check on that".

"Glad you saw reason" Cipher said before pulling her Five Seven away from his kidney and holstering it.

Rabat maintained his cool expression as he quickly left leaving Cipher alone and Pixy free to enter without worry, "Why didn't you just shoot him?" Pixy asked her.

"Captain's orders" Cipher told him as she looked back at Rabat's ship, "I still say it's a better idea to just kill him and be done with it nothing good can come from associating with him".

"Yeah about that" Pixy said, "What did he mean by your little encounter on the station?"

Cipher looked up to Rabat's ship, "After he escaped from Meia and the rest of the group, I cut him off in one of the passage ways".

_Rabat was sprinting down one of the corridors of the mission station just as the station rocked and its alarm began wailing. "Looks like its time to leave" the conman said to himself before Cipher swept out in front of him and clotheslined him to the floor._

_Rabat quickly scrambled back to his feet and turned around, landing his eyes on Cipher, "My my" he hummed, "Another beautiful lady out to get me"._

_Cipher immediately attacked him again throwing a right hook as a feign before whipping around into a half turn for a straight kick to his left shin to knock him off balance._

_Rabat fell for it, but quickly rolled to the side and got back up, remaining defensive as Cipher continued to attack him._

_Rabat was no amateur, clearly he had been in fights before, he easily dodged most of Cipher's strikes and continued to stay defensive until Utan showed up with a flash grenade to blind Cipher and allow Rabat to escape._

_After the grenade went off, Cipher backed herself into a corner, steeling her senses so she could react if something happened, but all she heard was Rabat's voice, "Well it's been fun, but I've got to run. You might want to do the same, be a shame if anything happened to such a beautiful girl like yourself"._

Pixy had a comical shocked look on his face, "He's begging you to kill him isn't he?"

"Maybe" Cipher responded before she realized something and turned around, "I know why he wanted to come on board".

"What?" Pixy asked her.

"Remember when we first got here?" Cipher asked him, "When we first saw the Vanguard combine with Dita's dread. To anyone outside the Nirvana's crew that would be something unusual and someone like this Rabat is bound t o try and look into it".

"Then he's in the Vanguard hangar" Pixy concluded to which Cipher nodded. Pixy quickly turned around and started leaving the hangar, "Dammit if he steels the Vanguard".

"He won't get the chance" Cipher told him, "Hibiki always does maintenance on it when he's frustrated and chances are Dita's there with him. Neither of them will just stand by and let him take it without a fight".

"Too bad neither of them would be able to stand up to him" Pixy told her as they entered the elevator.

"Which is why we're going to stop him" Cipher said as the doors closed.

In the Vanguard hangar, Dita was standing in front of the Vanguard with her arms out trying to stop Rabat from getting any closer to it.

"What's the problem?" Rabat asked her smoothly, "All I'm going to do is take a quick peek".

"No!" Dita cried, shaking her head.

Rabat's face then darkened, "Step aside. What are you to him anyway? I'm positive that when he thinks of you it's not in any special kind of way. Or more precisely he thinks of all women as enemies".

Rabat leaned in closer to kiss her, but thankfully Hibiki arrived in time and yelled at the con artist to get away from her.

"And just when it was getting good" Rabat said as he looked down at Hibiki, "You're a snotty boy you know that".

"Who are you calling a boy?" Hibiki yelled at him, "Is that one eye of yours working right?"

"Sure is" Rabat told him as pointed to his eye and then took off the eyepiece covering his other, "So is this one!" he smiled.

Hibiki growled, "Its makes me sick to my stomach to think that someone like you is a man same as me. Just get the hell out of here already!"

"And what if I don't want to?" Rabat asked him.

"Then I'll throw you out myself" Hibiki growled at him.

"Interesting" Rabat said as he jumped off the Vanguard's platform and down to Hibiki.

Hibiki snapped at the conman's mocking expression and charged at him, but Rabat merely smiled as his eyepiece emitted a blinding light stopping the young pilot in his tracks long enough for Rabat to knee him in the stomach.

Hibiki groaned as he fell to his knees, "You cheater".

"What's that?" Rabat asked him scratching the inside of his ear, "Sorry my ears aren't working so good" he grabbed Hibiki by his head and lifted him off the ground, "I don't know who put those ideas into your head, but if you're going to challenge me don't do it with someone else's words".

Rabat reared his fist back and dropped Hibiki at the same time throwing his arm forward and punching Hibiki in the face, sending the young pilot flying back. Hibiki slowly got back up as Rabat continued to taunt him.

"Gotta say" Rabat began, "There's nothing funnier than a clueless know it all trying to act tough. No matter how much they try to hide it the truth always comes out and you're no exception".

"Shut your mouth!" Hibiki growled charging at him again, but Rabat sidestepped him and grabbed the back of his head before slamming it to the floor, "Men who are truly strong pick their own words to standby and fight with…against a million proverbs" Rabat began hitting Hibiki again and again as he continued to lecture him in being a man.

"A single word from your heart will always win in the end".

Hibiki fell at Rabat's feet and Dita cried out for it to all end, distracting Rabat allowing Hibiki to bite at his leg.

Rabat screamed as the boy's teeth sank into his leg, "Get off me you brat" he yelled in rage as he kicked Hibiki's head forcing him off.

"That's it" the conman said as he got up just as Dita rushed to Hibiki, "Get out of the way" he yelled to the redhead as he kicked her to the side and then stepped on Hibiki's head, "I'm going to finish you right now!"

Just as Rabat began crushing Hibiki's skull someone wrapped their arm around his neck from behind and pulled back pulling him down in an inverted headlock backbreaker.

When Rabat's back made contact with his attack's the conman stumbled before turning around only to be met by a swift roundhouse kick to the side of his head knocking him to the floor.

Rabat quickly shook his head to clear his vision before setting his eyes on the one who attacked him, it was Cipher.

Cipher was now standing between Rabat and Hibiki, set in a fighting stance and glaring death at the conman, "Get up" she told him.

Rabat smiled at her as he got to his feet, "Well now things are getting a little heated it seems".

Cipher ran over to him and ducked to the side to avoid Rabat's punch before countering with a kick to the back of his knee making him fall and then kicking him in his chest, but Rabat caught the second kick and pushed her away from him with his full strength, "So this is how its going to be huh?" he asked her, "Then come on show me what you've got".

Cipher sprinted over to him again and quickly held up her left arm to block Rabat's left hook before she wrapped her arm around his and jerked it up restraining him and allowing her to slam her fist into his chest, taking the wind out of him.

After her fist made contact with his chest, Cipher moved her free hand behind his head and jerked his restrained arm up once more before she twisted and threw him to the side.

Rabat immediately got back up, he was definitely resilient, but the fight was still long from over. Catching another one of Cipher's kicks aimed at his torso, Rabat smiled at her only to see Cipher jumped with her other leg and kick him in the back of the head.

Once she landed on the ground, Cipher rolled away from Rabat and got back to her feet and charged at Rabat landing a vicious uppercut against him before she whipped around and slammed her elbow into his jaw before turning back the other way slamming the back of her hand against the side of his head.

Rabat stumbled to the side, leaving him completely open for Cipher now as he tried to maintain his footing.

Cipher rushed over to him and kicked out the side of his knee making him fall before hitting him with a flurry of punches to his torso and ending her assault with a swift turn around and landing a hard kick to his chest sending him back.

While Rabat was beating up Hibiki a large crowd of the crew began gathering at the hangar door, including Meia, Jura and Barnette, but now everyone was in a shocked silence as they watched Cipher tear her way through the conman.

"How many times did she just hit him?" Jura asked Meia and Barnette after seeing Cipher's flurry of punches, "I could barely see her arms moving, is it even possible for someone to move that fast?"

Cipher watched Rabat fly into the hangar wall and slide down into a sitting position, "Its time for you to leave" Cipher told him as she turned around and started walking away from him.

Rabat was in a rage, he was humiliated by Hibiki biting him and then he was utterly beaten by Cipher. Slowly Rabat got up, his rage and adrenaline forming a tunnel vision on Cipher alone as he began running over to her.

Sensing the threat against her, Cipher spun around removing her red blazer jacket in a single motion and throwing it at Rabat as a distraction before running over to him and hitting him with another uppercut before spinning around and slamming her elbow into his jaw again and then spinning back and kicking the side of his knee out to make him fall to one knee.

Cipher dove her arm under Rabat's and wrapped around it before placing her hand against the back of his shoulder and pushing him down while her arm wrapped around his pulled it up instead, immediately bringing her knee up to meet Rabat's face Cipher stepped back as the conman stumbled away from her and fell back into a sitting position.

Rabat was holding his hand across his face, a large amount of blood dripping through his fingers and under his palm, Cipher clearly broke his nose with that last knee.

Seeing that Cipher now had her gun aimed at him, Rabat knew it was time for him to leave and admitted his defeat.

Rabat left with Pixy and Meia escorting him back to his ship and took off from the Nirvana, but not before using a remote to sabotage the ship's engines so they couldn't follow him.

The captain growled from the bridge as she watched him get away, "You got us this time" she sneered, "But next time you won't be so lucky".

It was truly a traumatic day for everyone, especially Hibiki and Dita.

That night Hibiki sat alone in the garden section talking to Meia who was on the balcony above him, "You shouldn't worry about it" Meia told him, "In the end he was just a con artist, everything he said was just a bunch of nonsense".

"No" Hibiki said gloomily, "It's my own fault…Even if everything he said was lies he was right about one thing. I don't have any words to call my own and if he really wanted to he could have killed me at any time…I don't mean this in a bad way or anything, but being saved by a woman…I don't know why it just doesn't sit right with me. I always thought that I was strong enough to protect this ship and everyone on it, but in the end I wasn't even strong enough to protect myself…what kind of man am I?"

Hibiki looked up at the canopy and into space, "When I do finally get up on my own stage, I wonder what kind of lines would come out? I'm looking forward to that day, but at the same time…I'm a little bit scared. I'm kinda afraid that my play would be a comedy".

"It doesn't matter how silly the lines may sound" Meia told him, "If they're truly coming from the heart then no one will laugh. Or at the very least I wouldn't. You said it yourself when you saved me didn't you?" she asked him, "You said man or woman it doesn't matter, for right now we're all in this together and we'll have to rely on each other to survive. So if any of us ever encounter something we can't handle alone it shouldn't be a problem if we need to ask someone else for help…it seems you and I still have a lot to learn in that area".

Meia's final words sounded regretful as she walked away leaving Hibiki to his own thoughts.

In the hangar, Pixy and Cipher were drinking whine and talking once again after a long day they could finally relax a bit.

"I'm going to be honest Cipher" Pixy said, "I'm surprised you didn't kill him".

"I let him live so he could learn his lesson" Cipher told him, "Also he can take that story to anyone else he meets, to let them know what happens if they get in my way".

Pixy had never seen Cipher engage someone in full hand to hand combat before; he was impressed at her skills and even a little frightened if she ever decided to turn them against him.

"Larry!" Cipher barked at him, "I'm up here" she said pointing at her face.

Pixy was so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't realize that his eyes were aimed directly at Cipher's breasts and his face turned red, "Sorry I didn't mean to…"

Cipher set her glass down and got up, the lighting was dim, but Pixy could swear that he saw her blushing a little, "I think I'm going to call it a night. See you in the morning" she said before leaving the hangar.

After Cipher left, Pixy looked over to their fighters in the back of the hangar, "The one person I enjoy spending time with and when she leaves I feel lonely…back then after I first learned that Cipher was really a woman I made the joke to myself that I'd ask her out, but now…Do I really feel that way about her?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN.  
><strong>And Vandread Zero is finally updated. I'll admit that I was busy with school for most of my time and at other times I was just at a loss for what to do, but its finally here.

The chapter title is actually a reference to the captain's reading of Rabat as The Hermit and her reading of Cipher back in chapter 4 The Queen of Swords.


	9. Fight to Protect

Cipher was once again in the gym by herself, hitting the heavy bag over and over in short burst strikes before stepping around to a different side and then hitting it again.

Three days ago, the crew of the Nirvana came across a long forgotten Mission Station, but they weren't the only ones. A mysterious man was also on the station and after the station's apparent self defense network activated itself the man fled along with Pyoro and used the NAVI bot as a bargaining chip to come aboard the Nirvana.

From the start the captain, BC, Cipher and Pixy knew he couldn't be trusted and he was definitely up to something. It didn't take long for this man who called himself Rabat to show his true colors.

First he tried to convince Dita to show him the Vanguard so he could learn its secrets and when she refused he tried to kiss her as a distraction to force his way by her, but when Hibiki showed up to stop him Rabat became angry and attacked the Vanguard pilot.

Hibiki blindly and wildly tried attacking Rabat who proved to be a far superior fighter, easily evading Hibiki's attacks before striking back at him. Thankfully Cipher stopped Rabat from killing the helpless Hibiki before taking on Rabat herself.

To the surprise of the entire crew, Cipher's hand to hand combat skills were clearly far above Rabat's. In mere minutes Cipher put Rabat in just as bad a shape as Hibiki was in and even then she didn't stop, she continued to attack him until she was sure he learned his lesson and left him to his own defeat. Rabat however was furious, he wasn't going to let himself be beaten so thoroughly by a woman and tried to attack Cipher while her back was turned, but his plan didn't go over very well.

Cipher turned around and removed her blazer jacket, throwing it at Rabat as a distraction before landing a series of strikes that knocked the conman onto his ass and forcing him to admit his defeat before he stumbled back to his ship under escort and left.

Everyone had gotten a first hand look at Cipher's combat skills, time and time again they had seen her skills as a pilot, but when they saw how well she could fight and against a larger opponent, some of them began forming new opinions of her. Some were really impressed at her strength while others were scared.

Cipher kept to herself really only speaking to Pixy if anyone at all and very rarely speaking to the captain herself.

Throwing a swift double punch and then roundhouse kick to the heavy bag, Cipher threw a quick elbow before stopping to catch her breath. Leaving the gym, Cipher returned to the elevator only to be met by Hibiki once the doors opened.

"Oh good you're here" he said when he saw Cipher.

Cipher stepped on the elevator and the doors closed behind her, "Do you need something?" she asked him.

Hibiki hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Cipher I uh…"

"I don't have time for you Hibiki make it quick" Cipher told him.

Hibiki slapped his hands together and bowed his head to her, "I want you to teach me how to fight. Please".

Cipher looked at Hibiki from the corner of her eye, "No" she answered blankly.

"Please" Hibiki said again.

"Why should I?" Cipher asked him, "Do you plan on paying me to do so?"

Hibiki didn't answer her, he had no way of paying her and Cipher knew it.

The elevator doors opened and Cipher stepped off, "I don't work for free Hibiki" she told him, "So if you can't pay me then I don't help you".

Hibiki snapped, "Do you ever think of anyone other than yourself?" he yelled at her.

Cipher stopped in mid step and looked back at him, "What happens to you or the others outside of combat doesn't concern me. During a battle I only help you because I'm being paid to" she turned away from him and as she started walking away she coldly told him the truth, "I couldn't care less about what happens to you, Dita or the others".

Hearing Cipher's cold words, Hibiki gritted his teeth and growled at her, "What kind of person are you? You act so superior to everyone else…WASN'T THERE EVER A TIME WHEN YOU NEEDED SOMEONE'S HELP!" he roared making Cipher stop again.

Cipher turned and walked over to him, quickly grabbing him by his collar and lifting him up before rearing her fist back making Hibiki flinch and close his eyes. Cipher lowered her fist and dropped Hibiki, glaring at him as he opened his eyes, "When you went to confront Rabat" she began in an extremely hostile tone, "What were going to protect? Did you go there to protect Dita or the Vanguard?"

"Which…was I protecting?" Hibiki asked.

"If you can't give me an honest answer then don't speak to me again" she told him before walking away for the last time.

As Cipher vanished around the corner, Hibiki looked up at the ceiling, "What am I trying to protect?" he asked himself, imagining both Dita and his Vanguard as images on the ceiling.

In the conference room, BC was standing at the end of the table giving a report to the captain about a planet they had found. The projector in the center of the table showed a hologram of the planet, it was mostly covered in water.

"Approximately 99% of the planet's surface is covered in water. Scans also show that the atmosphere is comprised of nitrogen and oxygen so it fulfils the requirements for life. Deeper scans have also revealed the remains of a colonization ship on the ocean floor as well as a small island nearby whose inhabitants appear to be humanoid".

"Well then" Magno said, "Maybe we should go say hello to our long lost relatives".

That's when Belvedere contacted them from the bridge, "Captain we've spotted an enemy formation at the very edge of our radar coverage, should we scramble the dread teams?"

BC immediately answered, "Scramble all dread teams at once and put the ship on full battle alert".

"Understood" Belvedere replied before the ship's alarm began going off, alerting the entire crew to the enemy presence.

In the cafeteria, Meia was sitting alongside Dita who was asking Pixy a bunch of questions about Cipher.

Pixy slowly set down his empty cup as he answered the excited redhead, "Everytime I flew with her, her skill stood out. From our first mission together to our dog fight against each other…She was unstoppable. No matter how the badly the battle was going she would ascertain the situation in an instant and change the tide to her favor and it didn't matter what kind of opposition we would face she would strike it down all the same, it was no wonder they started calling her Demon Lord…That said it was hell trying to keep up with her…it still is".

"So you're saying that Cipher has always been this good Mr. Pixy?" Dita asked him.

Pixy smirked just as the ship's alarm went off, "I heard a lot of stories about Cipher before we became the team we are now Dita and after watching her abilities first hand for so long…I don't think there's anyone or anything that could stop her".

Pixy ran out of the cafeteria alongside both dread pilots as they made their way to the hangar deck, "Trust me Dita, it'll be a cold day in Hell before a better pilot than Cipher shows up".

"If I didn't know any better" Meia panted as they ran through the halls, "I'd say you sound a little jealous".

Pixy chuckled, "Maybe…I'd be lying if I said there was never a time I when I wasn't a little envious".

The three pilots arrived in the hangar, Dita and Meia ran for their dreads, but Pixy stopped when he heard Cipher call to him, "You're late".

Pixy stopped and turned to face her, "Heh, I figured you'd be out there already".

Cipher stepped over to him and stopped directly in front of him, staring right into his eyes, "When the battle is over I want to talk to you. Alone".

Cipher turned away and walked to her F-15C leaving Pixy unsure if he should be worried or not, but he pushed the thought to the side and ran for his ADFX-02.

"This is Galm 2" he said after switching his radio on, "Cipher and I are in position to take off".

"Roger that Galm team" BC replied, "Do what you do best".

"Roger" Pixy replied as he and Cipher took off into space and headed into battle.

Ezra announced the enemy formation to the pilots, "The enemy formation is small consisting of only 12 cube types and a strange object I can't identify".

Pixy smirked, "This won't take long then. Hey Cipher there's only 12 of them you feel like a little competition?"

Cipher immediately gained a lock on an enemy and fired, watching her missile scream toward the target before it evaded at the last second and then weaved to the side to avoid another from Pixy.

"Well it looks like they've learned how to evade our attacks" Pixy said before he shot down a cube type with Cipher's help "Galm 2 confirmed kill".

"Hold still you bastard!" Hibiki yelled as he swung the Vanguard's sword at an enemy only to miss.

"Hey there" Jura said to him, stopping her dread right behind him, "So are you ready for me?"

"Are you still on about that?" Hibiki yelled at her, "I'm going to do this on my own". Dita was screaming as several cube types latched onto her dread, causing her to spin out of control.

Dita" Hibiki gasped quietly before being attacked himself, "Bastards!"

Hibiki tried swinging at the enemy, but it dodged leaving the Vanguard open to two other enemies. The two cube types rammed into the Vanguard causing it to drop its sword before forcing it to plummet toward the planet below them.

Jura's dread sped after them, the blonde pilot determined to show off her own elegant Vandread.

"Jura stop!" Barnette called to her friend as the red dread entered the planet's atmosphere and began burning from the reentry.

A bright light shined through the planet's outer atmosphere before the signals of both fighters were lost after they crashed into the ocean.

"Jura, Hibiki do you read!?" BC yelled from the bridge.

The dread pilots were silent, unsure if their comrades survived or not, but there were still enemies around them so for now they needed to worry about themselves.

"Do you think they're still alive?" Pixy asked Cipher after shooting down a cube type that was tailing her.

"Who knows" Cipher replied with an emotionless tone before banking and decelerating to avoid and enemy, quickly shooting it down once it passed by her. "Either way we have to deal with the enemy first".

"Galm 2 copy that" Pixy said before splitting away from Cipher to assist Meia and Dita, _"Cipher what's gotten into you recently?"_ Pixy wondered _"You're acting harsher than usual. Back then you would have tried to help them, but now…do you even care if your allies die?"_

On the planet below them, giant waves erupted from the ocean as a new ship rose from the depths. It was crimson red just like Jura's dread, but it had two long appendages almost like claws.

"What is that?" BC asked awkwardly, seeing the image of the new Vandread.

Aramone had a comical look on her face as she turned around, "It's a crab".

Inside the new ship, Hibiki looked over his shoulders and then at the controls in front of him, "Ok so how does this thing work?" he asked before Jura started crying, "Hey will you calm down and help me figure this thing out!"

"No!" Jura cried before slamming her hands on the console, causing the ship's thrusters to activate and sending it flying toward the island ahead of them.

"Sounds like they're still alive huh Cipher?" Pixy asked after shooting down another enemy.

Cipher tightened her grip on her fighter's flightstick; she couldn't help, but smile. "Yo buddy you still alive in there?" Pixy asked her.

"I'm fine, it looks like Meia and Dita took care of the last one so let's head back".

"You alright Cipher?" Pixy asked her, "You sound kind of down today?"

"I'm just fine Larry" Cipher replied in a pensive tone, "I've…just got a lot on my mind right now".

The two mercenaries landed along with the dread pilots, as always Cipher climbed out of her fighter and calmly left the hangar without speaking to anyone.

On the bridge, Ezra looked over her shoulder at the captain, "Communications established".

"Good job dear" Magno said to her, "Put it on the main screen".

The main screen flashed to life, showing a young woman probably in her mid 20's with bright blonde hair and dressed in a light purple robe with a mask hanging from around her neck. She looked up and smiled at them, "Greetings to you weary travelers my name is Faneita and welcome to Anpathos the most beautiful planet in the galaxy".

"Anpathos huh?" the captain repeated, "So that's your planet's name".

The woman continued to smile, "Yes. We have called it this since we first arrived here many years ago and we've been looking forward to your arrival".

"Looking forward to our arrival?" BC wondered.

Faneita asked her, "You are the Munya are you not?"

"I'm afraid there's a misunderstanding" the captain told her, "We are certainly not these Munya you are speaking of. Pardon me for being so direct, but we'd like permission to visit you, there are several questions I'd like to ask you".

"We are currently in the middle of our ceremony" Faneita told her, "I'm afraid we are not prepared to greet you properly".

"That's quite alright" Magno replied, "You needn't worry about that" she contacted Bart in the helmsman portal, "Bart can you hear me? I'm leaving you in charge of the ship while I'm gone. Oh and you're forbidden to run away understood?"

The captain and BC prepared to leave for Anpathos, taking the elevator to Reg Central where they would take a small shuttle for the trip. On the way there they passed by Cipher who didn't speak to them as they walked by.

The captain looked over her shoulder at the quiet mercenary and called to her, "Cipher my dear. Why don't you come with us? You look like you could use some time away from the ship".

Cipher stopped and turned around before clumsily saying, "That…sounds like a good idea".

"You seem to be deep in thought" the captain noticed, "Is there anything wrong?"

Cipher avoided eye contact with her while she answered, "No captain…I'm just tired is all".

The three of them continued toward the shuttle, "If you feel that you need some time off to rest all you need to do is ask".

"I'll keep that in mind captain" Cipher replied as they boarded the shuttle and left the Nirvana.

In hall outside the hangar, Dita was pacing back and forth worrying about Hibiki and the fact that he was on the planet below alone with Jura.

"Calm down Dita" Meia told her, "The captain and the commander are down there as well. They'll be fine".

"But Meia!" Dita cried before Meia cut her off, "Listen I know you're concerned, but you have to have faith that everything will be fine. There's no use worrying about it right now".

Dita wasn't the only one worrying; Pixy returned to the brig and was lying on his cot wondering if Cipher was alright.

"_Cipher"_ he thought _"I'm worried about you…First you act cold and push everyone away and now you sound sad and deep in though…is something wrong? If so…why won't you tell me? Does it have something to do with that Rabat guy? Or is it something else? You're acting more distant than usual"._

Pixy quickly sat up and sighed, "Dammit Cipher you said you were ready to start trusting me again so if something's bothering you why won't you tell me?"

On the planet's island, the shuttle finally landed and its three passengers got off and began walking toward the tower in the center of the island.

Cipher stopped a few times to look out toward the vast sea that surrounded them.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong dear?" the captain asked her.

"Its nothing captain" Cipher replied, "Just taking in some air".

The captain asked BC to give her some time alone with Cipher. BC walked a short distance away from them, leaving the captain to talk with the mercenary.

"Listen Fiona, I've lived a long life and I've seen many people come and go. I know that there's something weighing heavily on your mind and whatever it is you're at a loss on what to do. You're unsure on how to act or deal with it, it's alright to reach out and ask for help every once in a while. You're part of my crew now so I would never turn my back to you if you needed something".

Cipher looked at the stone ledge they were standing on, "Captain how old do you think I am?"

"Now what kind of question is that?" the captain asked her.

Cipher blinked her eyes and even though she wasn't facing the captain, Magno could sense her sadness, "I'm 28…I'm 28 and the only thing I've done for most of my life is fight…I'm…I'm just tired of fighting…I just want to relax from now on and live a regular life".

"Oh is that all it is?" the captain asked her before smiling, "Trust me that's nothing to worry about. You're just exhausted from all the recent battles we've had, but if you'd like to take a break from all of that I'm sure I could find something else you could do on the ship for a while".

The sea was slowly becoming rough and began rising, "We should finish our business here soon" Cipher said, "I have a bad feeling about all of this".

The captain agreed, "Yes, I'm quite curious to know what these Munya are".

The two of them returned to BC and they continued toward the tower in the center of the island.

"Hey old lady!" Hibiki's voice called to them.

"Little one" Magno smiled as the young pilot ran over to them, "You're safe are you?"

"Where's Jura?" BC asked him.

Hibiki snapped his head to the side with an annoyed expression, "I don't want to talk about Princess Crabby right now".

"Well as long as you're both safe it doesn't matter" Magno said to him, "Why don't you just come with us for now".

Hibiki joined them and they followed the inhabitants of the island to the base of the tower where Faneita was waiting for them, "Welcome" she said to them, "This is the way to the Holy Path".

"It's very impressive" Magno smiled, "Would you mind telling me who these Munya are?"

Faneita continued to smile at them, "They are the ones who guided our ancestors here so long ago. We are very grateful to them and consider them to be the very heart and soul of Anpathos. And according to prophecy they will be in great need of us soon".

"In great need of you?" BC asked her.

Faneita nodded, she seemed very proud of herself when she answered, "According to our legends they are in need of the spiral code".

"Spiral code?" Cipher repeated before noticing a giant banner hanging on the wall of the temple. It showed a kneeling man with a large spiraling object coming from his back, "The spinal cord" she said looking back to Faneita.

"These Munya you're preparing for, do you know what they look like?" she asked Faneita.

"I'm afraid not" Faneita answered, "The Munya are not able to come to us themselves so they send they're messengers to collect us and they will bring us to them".

Cipher closed her eyes and turned her back to them just as Bart's voice came from BC's radio, "The enemy is here".

"How many?" BC asked him.

"Just one" Bart answered, "But its really big kinda like a large container".

"A harvesting vessel?" BC wondered, "Captain!"

The captain smiled, "It seems your Munya have arrived".

Faneita smiled happily as the people who lived on the island began walking up the spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower and the water from the ocean began flooding into the city and the tower.

"What's going on here?" Hibiki asked after the water reached them.

"It's really clever actually" Cipher said, "They have everyone gather at the top of the tower with a flood below them so they can't escape. They really covered their bases with this one". Cipher looked at Hibiki, "Get back to Jura; they're going to need your help to deal with the enemy".

Hibiki looked at her, "Yeah, but…what about the three of you?"

"Enemy, Vandread, now!" Cipher barked, startling Hibiki.

"Fine, just don't die down here you got that" Hibiki told them before running off.

Cipher turned back around and moved her hand up to her left shoulder to unlatch her knife, "Now then" she said to Faneita, "I have no intention of being harvested along with you and the rest of your congregation, you can go and die if you want, but we're leaving".

"Tradition forbids us from resisting" Faneita told her "We have all prepared for this day and we welcome it and the Munya with open arms".

"Tradition huh?" the captain asked, "That's an awfully convenient word for someone who can't make her won decisions".

Faneita glared at the captain, "This is our way. You arrive here unannounced, you insult our god and now you try to make us defy them?"

Cipher scoffed, "What would know of any kind of god?" she asked cockily, "This god you're looking forward to seeing so much is only here for one reason. And that's to kill you and use your body parts for their own purposes".

"Such ignorance" Faneita said as she placed her mask on, "What would you know, you come to our beautiful world and spit on our ways. You think yourselves above us, above our god. I will not tolerate these insults".

"What do you plan to do about it?" Cipher asked her, holding a firm grip on her knife.

The captain also glared at Faneita, "You said this is the most beautiful planet in the galaxy. Well I don't see any ships around so it's clear to me that you've never left this little island. So how would you know if it's the most beautiful? Have you ever compared it to others? Or do you just accept whatever someone tells you as fact?"

They could hear Bart screaming from the radio, "We're done for! I don't want to die here!"

"Don't be such a coward" Magno calmly told him, "I've been alive for a very long time and I've seen many deaths along the way. Everytime I've cursed myself for my powerlessness, everytime I cursed myself for not being able to do a single thing to save those people. The parting was so hard to do; so many things left unsaid so many regrets. When I think about these things I feel like I'm being torn apart. But even in their final moments not a single one of them gave up on life, they were all brave and shining stars to the very end. I'm proud to have known them and even prouder to have called them friends. And this is the reason I could never forgive someone who relied on others to create their own destinies".

"Destiny" Cipher muttered, "Destiny is a strange thing, it can always be changed, just like the water around our feet it's ever flowing and even if something blocks its path it just flows around it refusing to be hindered. You claim your destiny is to serve these Munya and if that's what you want to do then I certainly won't stop you, but don't you dare tell someone else what their destiny is".

Cipher turned her back to Faneita and returned her knife to its holster on her shoulder, "I still don't know what I want to do with my life so for now I'm going to keep pressing forward, keep fighting everything that tries to get in my way until I figure it out. You can go die for all I care, but don't you dare try to drag the rest of us down with you".

Aramone's voice came from the radio, "Vandread Jura is holding position above the planet".

In space, the new Vandread was hovering above the planet and the several discs that circled around it were shot out, flying all around the planet before covering it in a shield just as the giant harvest vessel began advancing on them.

As the machine advanced toward them the cube types around it appeared to be sucked inside as if it was a giant vacuum.

Hibiki smirked, "Ha if you're hungry I can give you all you can eat" he slammed his fist on the console and the part of the shield under the Vandread opened summoning a giant vortex of water from the ocean far below them. "Now take this!" Hibiki yelled focusing the vortex of water toward the enemy filling it with massive amounts of water before it surpassed its capacity and exploded from the inside.

Back on the planet's surface Cipher still had her back to Faneita, while the captain continued to gaze at them with BC at her back.

Aramone's voice came from the radio again, "Enemy destroyed all pilots safe and accounted for".

Faneita fell to her knees, "How dare you" she said in a trembling voice, "How dare you assault our god like that. I won't forgive you for the blasphemy you've committed".

"Like we care" Cipher said as the captain began walking toward Faneita, "Captain don't waste your time on someone like her, let's just leave and be done with this place".

"There's no need for such harsh words Cipher" the captain told her, "You young one" she said looking down at Faneita, "You said the Munya are gods, but I'm afraid they're not. They are just vile machines that have a twisted purpose to harvest any humans they can find. Real gods are not things that come to us and ask us for something, they merely watch us and guide us like the lost little sheep we humans are. Whether you believe me or not we've freed you from a terrible fate so it's up to you where you go from here".

Magno returned to BC and Cipher and the three of them left to return to their shuttle and the ship, ready to leave this planet far behind.

After they returned to the Nirvana, Cipher thanked the captain for allowing her the time away from the ship before leaving and returning to the brig to rest.

Entering her cell at the end of the brig, Cipher sat on her bed and exhaled before hearing Pixy's voice from the doorway, "So you're back?"

Cipher looked over to him as he gave her a casual smile, "Well you said you wanted to talk to me right? What's on your mind?"

Cipher closed her eyes and exhaled slowly before looking away from him, "Larry I…I tired of fighting".

"What do you mean?" Pixy asked her.

"I mean I'm just tired of it all, I'm tired of always fighting, it's all I do and I'm just tired of it…if we weren't transported to this future I could have retired from all of this by now…Instead we're here fighting another war".

Pixy lowered his eyes for a second, "Listen Fiona…I know what you mean. I'm tired of it to, but it's something we have to do right? If we stopped now we'd be giving up on everyone else, we'd be turning our backs on them. Even if they could handle the enemy without us would that make either of us feel any better? I don't think I could just turn my back on them like that".

Cipher gave a light scoff, "This coming from the guy who turned against his buddy and tried to shoot her down".

Pixy gave her an awkward look, "I thought we were passed that?"

Cipher shook her head with a slight smile, "Not even remotely. I said I was ready to start trusting you again, I never said I was ready to forgive you for what you did".

Pixy hung his head, "I can't figure you out Cipher" he chuckled, "But I trust you and I know that you'll decide to keep fighting. You can't turn away from them even if you wanted to you wouldn't be able to do it. You care about them, we both do and we want to protect them because we've seen too much. We're both tired of war and the losses it causes, that's what we're tired of, but until this war is over that won't end. So for now we have to keep fighting".

Cipher looked away from him, "You know it's only going to get harder from here".

Pixy nodded, "I know, but I also know that we can handle it together. We're a team after all right?"

Cipher got to her feet and walked toward Pixy, who stepped aside to let her by, "Thank you Larry" she said in a gloomy sounding voice, "I...feel better". Cipher quickly walked away from him when she finished speaking, she wanted to tell him something else, but her heart was pounding and her chest felt like it was tightening too much for her to breathe so she left and went to find Hibiki who was sitting alone in the hangar.

Seeing the pilot of the Vanguard sitting alone, Cipher walked over to him, finally regaining her composure she coldly asked him, "So have you finally decided?"

Hibiki was surprised by her and looked over his shoulder, "Decided?" he asked before realizing what she meant. His expression changed, the usual clueless look he had had been replaced by one of pure determination, "I have. I don't want to protect either of them. I want to protect everyone equally, I don't care if they're women or not. Right now regardless of how hard it may get, this is my home and I want to protect it with everything I've got and that includes the people who also live here".

Cipher closed her eyes and finally smiled at him, "Then you're ready. Meet me in the gym tomorrow morning and I'll show you how to defend yourself first, then I'll teach you how to defend others".

Hibiki gave her an open smile before slightly bowing his head to her, "Thank you Cipher. I promise I'll do my best".

Cipher had a small smile on her face as she turned away from him and began walking away, _"He wants to protect this ship and everyone on it?"_ she thought _"Larry said he wants to protect the ship as well…What about me?...Do I also want to protect this ship or do I just want the money for completing another job?"_

"_I…I feel like I'm missing something important, something I really want, but what is it?"_

Cipher returned to the brig, Pixy had already fallen asleep so Cipher returned to her own cell and slowly fell back on her cot, staring at the ceiling. _"Larry"_ she wondered _"Do I really…"_


	10. A Christmas Miracle

"Christmas?" Hibiki, Bart and Duelo all asked at once.

Pixy nodded, "Yep it was a special holiday back on Earth. The way people celebrated it was different around the world, but it was the same idea all around. A special day you get to spend with family, friends…people you really care about and love. Nice to see something survived from the old days".

"Well I sure don't get it that's for sure" Hibiki said looking at all the women flooding through the garden section, putting up decorations for the holiday.

"Trust me kid" Pixy said to him as he slapped him on the shoulder, "Its going to be a fun day, now if you'll excuse me". Pixy left the three men to observe what was going on below, clearly they had never seen a celebration like this, but they were definitely interested.

Below the bridge, Cipher was sitting on the bench in the crowded garden section watching as everyone set up the decorations for the holiday, "I guess we deserve a day to ourselves after everything we've gone through" she muttered before two large decorations were dangled in front of her.

Ezra was holding two large ornaments, a bell and a star she asked Cipher if she preferred one over the other, but the mercenary sighed as she got up, "It doesn't really matter does it?" she asked the bridge bunny trying to sound friendly, but her voice still sounded cold and distant. "It'll still be Christmas without all the fancy decorations everywhere. I think it's a waste of energy".

Ezra gasped, "Oh sorry I didn't mean to".

Cipher exhaled, "No I didn't mean it like that" she said, "I just…I've never been one to hang around large crowds I…I just don't feel comfortable right now, go with the star there was some old story about some old guys following a star or something I don't know".

Cipher walked away before Ezra could say anything else, leaving the garden section to find somewhere quieter.

Cipher returned to her room in the brig, she would never openly admit it, but she was happy to see everyone having a good time.

"You're not planning on sleeping on a day like this are you?" the captain's voice asked her as Cipher sat on her bed.

Cipher looked over the captain standing in the doorway to her cell, "I was going to rest for a while".

The captain walked over to her and sat down next to her, "Come now my dear, you can't be all alone on Christmas there's just no sense in that. Besides you're still young, you should go out and enjoy life while you still can".

"Christmas just isn't something that's for me captain" Cipher told her, "Large groups of people only mean more potential threats, someone else tailing you and too many blind spots you can be attacked from".

"Fiona" the captain said, her voice becoming stern, "We're all part of the same crew on this ship; no one here is going to attack you".

"I know that" Cipher replied, "It's just a part of my training I can't switch off. I'm a mercenary captain; we're considered disposable to the people who hire us, even though Ustio realized they needed us to win against Belka the simple fact is I was still a mercenary, an expendable soldier".

The captain narrowed her eyes, "Well you're not to me. You are part of my crew now Cipher, my family and I take care of my family" the captain stood up, "I have an idea. Since you don't feel comfortable around larger crowds why don't you come with me, Santa Claus could use a bodyguard".

"Wasn't that a man?" Cipher asked her.

The captain smiled, "Yes, but they don't need to know that, it would probably ruin the holiday for them".

Cipher followed the captain out of her cell and toward the elevator, "So Santa where are we going to first?" she asked trying her best to sound enthusiastic even though it made her feel weird.

The captain smiled after summoning the elevator, "To my room. I need to change for the special event plus I think some tea would be nice and it would give the two of us a chance to finally talk".

Cipher hid her hesitance of the idea, _"I don't really feel like talking though"._

When the elevator arrived, Pixy stepped out and immediately greeted the captain, "Hello captain".

"Ah Pixy perfect timing" the captain smiled, "I could use someone to go through some of the storage closest in the older part of the ship and find us some Christmas lights. Think you could do that for me?"

"Uh sure" Pixy nodded before looking at Cipher, "Hey Cipher…actually never mind it's not that important".

The three stepped onto the elevator and went up a few decks before Pixy got off, "See ya later captain, Cipher".

Seeing Pixy walk away, Cipher felt like she wanted to run after him, but her legs wouldn't move. _"What's wrong with me"_ she yelled in her head, _"Why do I feel this way…I can't…I don't want to"_.

"Well then, shall we continue?" the captain asked Cipher who slowly nodded in response.

The elevator doors closed once more, taking its two occupants up to the quarters deck and then up one more floor to the officers deck where the captain's room was.

Cipher followed the captain to her room, "Have a seat my dear I'll bring us some tea" the captain told her.

Cipher took a seat in one of the chairs next to a small round table while the captain walked over to a large cabinet. Cipher slowly scanned around the room looking at every detail. The only other time she had seen a room like this was almost six years ago. The man who brought her into the mercenary world, Jimmy Vanderwall was contracted by the Kingdom of Sapin to save a hijacked Cruise ship.

The operation was largely successful with only a few of the ship's passengers getting injured and no fatalities other than those who hijacked the vessel. The captain of the cruise liner was being held in his quarters by the leader of the hijackers, a large, glamorous room with many decorations that radiated elegance and expensive tastes.

"Something about my room you like Cipher?" the captain's voice asked, bringing Cipher out of her memory.

"Oh no" Cipher quickly replied, "It just reminds me of a job I was on about six years ago".

The captain set the pot of tea on the table along with two small cups, "Now then" she said after pouring both of them some tea, "Why don't you tell me what it is that's bothering you".

"With respect captain" Cipher began with a semi cold look in her eyes, "It's something I don't really wish to discuss".

The captain took a sip from her tea before looking at Cipher, "I'm going to be honest. I brought you here so it would just be the two of us. There's no one else here so you don't have to act so tough. I want you to open yourself up a bit Cipher, allow others to get closer to you. There's a lot fighting going on in your heart, I can see it. You're screaming for someone to be close to, but you're too afraid to open up because you don't want to be rejected".

"Captain I really don't want to talk about personal matters" Cipher told her one again, but the captain wouldn't let up.

"I've seen it before my dear. In Meia, she was much the same as you and still is in a way, but she's slowly learning to open up to those around her. The two of you a very similar, you've also lost something important to you, but you're too afraid to show your fear or sadness on the matter because you don't want to appear weak".

Cipher immediately stood up and walked away, "We're done here" she said before leaving the captain's room.

On the bridge deck, Dita, Hibiki, Bart and Duelo were going through a storage room to try and find decorations for the celebration that night. "I didn't know about this room" Dita said before hearing someone behind her.

"There are a lot of secrets to this ship it seems".

Dita, Duelo and Bart turned around to see Pixy standing behind them, "Oh Mr. Pixy what are you doing here?" Dita asked him.

"The captain asked me to help find some decorations and I didn't really have anything else worth doing" Pixy told her just as a crashing sound echoed from inside the storage room.

Looking inside the room, they saw Hibiki lying on the floor, the wall behind him caved in.

"Can you do anything that doesn't cause trouble?" Pixy joked before helping him up, "Another secret room huh?" he said looking around the concealed room.

"What is all this stuff?" Hibiki wondered as Duelo walked over to an object covered in dust and ran his finger across it.

"They appear to be items from the colonization era" he said after seeing the layers of dust that rubbed onto his finger.

"The colonization era?" Hibiki asked him.

"So basically these things have been here for a hundred years?" Pixy asked, "That means their fair game for us right?" Stepping over to Duelo, Pixy narrowed his eyes and ran his hand across the object in front of the young doctor, "How about that?" he muttered after the dust was cleared away, "An old fashioned canvas".

"A canvas?" Bart repeated.

"For paintings" Pixy told him, "You said you came from a highly respected family back on Tarak right?" Pixy asked him, "Didn't your family have paintings n their homes?"

Bart chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Hey!" Dita gasped as she pulled something from a box, "What do you think this is?" she asked them holding up what looked like a really old VHS tape labeled X-Mas with family.

"A video tape" Pixy told her, "Back in the old days families would tape their holiday get togethers".

"That sounds kinda strange" Dita giggled before looking at the tape, "So there's a video on this then? I wonder if Parfet has of way of playing it".

"Let's try this instead" Pixy said after looking in the box Dita was digging through and pulling out a tape player, "Just find something to plug this into and you can watch it".

Dita immediately left, dragging Hibiki with her, leaving Duelo and Bart with Pixy.

"Well I don't see any decorations in here so my work is done" Pixy said before leaving as well. Once again returning to the brig, Pixy saw Cipher standing in the middle of the hall with a screen in front of her playing a video of a woman sitting on a couch holding an infant and a younger girl sitting next to her.

_Is this the video Dita found?"_ Pixy wondered just as a man walked into the view of the camera and sat next to the girl and woman, "_And cue the riots on this ship" _he joked in his head as the small girl hugged the man. Pixy was about to ask Cipher if she enjoyed the show, but the female mercenary clenched her fists and began trembling and most surprising, it sounded like she was crying.

"Dammit" Cipher muttered before Pixy placed his hand on her shoulder, surprising her.

Feeling the hand on her shoulder, Cipher immediately whipped around smacking Pixy's arm away and throwing him against the wall before slamming her forearm against his chest and rearing her fist back.

"Cipher wait!" Pixy yelled, snapping her back to reality.

Hearing Pixy's voice Cipher realized who it was that she had pinned to the wall and slowly lowered her arms as she backed away from him.

"Cipher what's wrong?" Pixy asked her when he saw the fearful look in her eyes.

Cipher immediately looked away from him, but it was too late, Pixy had seen the tears in her eyes and knew something was bothering her and she knew that he was going to ask her to tell him why.

"Cipher are you" Pixy began before Cipher's breaking voice cut him off.

"I want to go home" she said, her voice breaking halfway through her words, "Back to Earth. Before all of this…I just want to go back home. I can't take this anymore…"

The ship rocked slightly making Cipher stumbled backwards into Pixy, _"An enemy attack?"_ Pixy thought, but the alarm didn't go off.

Cipher felt Pixy's hands on both of her shoulders and tensed up, "I don't want to be here anymore I just want to go back home…"

"Cipher" Pixy muttered softly, completely surprised by his wingman's sudden breakdown. He took a few seconds to think of what he should do, knowing that Cipher was different from a lot of people he was worried that she might break down even more if he made the wrong move.

Gently he tried to turn Cipher around to face him, Cipher resisted the first pull, but quickly caved and let him turn her.

Cipher was still hiding her face from him, but Pixy still asked her, "Cipher, tell me what's bothering you. You said you were ready to start trusting me again right? I want to help you, but you have to tell me what's wrong".

Pixy could feel Cipher's muscles tensing under her skin and for a second he thought she was going to take a swing at him, but to his surprise she dropped her head against his chest and began crying.

"I want to go back; I want to see my mother again. I don't want to fight anymore I just want to go home". She raised her fist and lightly dropped it against Pixy's shoulder, "Dammit, why now" she cried, "Why is this happening now".

"Cipher look at me" Pixy said trying to push her chin up, but once again she resisted him, "Look at me" he said softly trying again to get her to look at him, but she still resisted. "Cipher…Fiona listen, I don't know how painful this is for you, but I want to help you through it. We can't go back, as much as we may want to we can't".

Cipher tried to pull away from him, but Pixy wouldn't let her, he held her against him, not letting her go.

"Let me go" she told him.

"No" Pixy said back to her in a sad tone.

"Let go of me" Cipher said again pulling back, but Pixy wrapped his arms behind her holding her against him, "I said let me go Larry!" she tried to yell, but once again her voice broke halfway through.

"I can't!" Pixy told her, "I can't let you go while you're like this…I don't care if you hate me for it, but I'm not letting you go until this is over" he told her, "I want you to let it all out, its ok to. Just let it out now".

"I'm going to kill you" Cipher cried trying to struggle out of his arms.

"I'll give you every chance to do that later" he told her, "But for now I need you to let it all out, I'm not going to think any less of you Fiona. I…I just want to be here for you, I don't know about you, but I still think of us as friends so I'm going to stay here until I'm sure you'll be ok".

Cipher wasn't fighting against Pixy, she was fighting against herself. Part of her wanted to get as far away from him and everyone else as possible, but the other part just wanted to submit and stay in his arms.

She couldn't hold herself back anymore, Cipher finally gave up and dropped her head against his chest again, crying as she reached up and grabbed his shoulder, tightly clinging to him.

The two of them stayed that way holding onto each other for what felt like days, but Pixy stayed true to his words refusing to let go of Cipher until she had calmed down. She had stopped crying, but she was still tense, refusing to relax.

BC's voice echoed from the speakers across the ship announcing that there were only a few moments before the Christmas parade began.

Pixy looked down at Cipher and loosened his arms from around her, "Why don't we go check it out? We don't have to get to close, just watch it from the bridge".

Cipher didn't answer him leaving Pixy to gently push her toward the elevator, thankfully this time she didn't resist him, she just followed his lead without saying a word.

Returning to the bridge, Pixy led Cipher past BC who was distracted by Bart and to the end of the bridge the second the giant clock hanging above the garden hit midnight and the celebration began for the crew below.

"Look at them" Pixy said, "They're not home either, but they're not letting it get to them. They're all down there having fun".

"It's not the same as us Larry" Cipher said, lowering her head to the side, "This ship is like a home to them and eventually they'll make it back to their world, but for us…our world is a hundred years in the past…there's no way for us to go back".

"Then we'll make a new home here" Pixy told her, "Look Cipher I don't know if you'll ever see us as friends again, but I still do. And I want us to remain that way. I want us to stay in each other's lives to keep being there if the other need it I mean that's what friends do isn't it?"

"You never learn do you?" Cipher muttered with a small smile before she slowly leaned her head against his shoulder, "I still plan on kill you…or at the very least hitting you again".

"If it'll make you feel better I'll let you" Pixy said just as the comet flying above the Nirvana exploded, leaving a massive dispersed trail of white ice as the ship flew past it.

"Now would you look at that" Pixy muttered with a small smile of his own, "Even in space it can snow".

The two mercenaries spotted something flying toward the Nirvana, at first they thought it was a lone enemy, but it turned out to be Vandread Meia flying away from the comet.

"Now what do you suppose they were doing?" Pixy wondered as the fighter separated and the Vanguard fell against the Nirvana's canopy waving a giant block of ice in its hands.

"Well you gotta give him credit for that one" Pixy said, "It's definitely a new one". Pixy looked down at Cipher who was still trying to hide her face, but he could just make out the edge of her smiling just as something started falling around them.

"The hell?" he muttered before realizing it was artificial snow and it was falling everywhere, _"They really went all out for this huh?"_ he thought to himself.

Cipher slowly pulled away from him and started to leave, "Hey Cipher" he called after her.

"I'm alright now" she said in a soft voice while still hiding her face from him, "Merry Christmas Larry".

Pixy watched Cipher walk away as he muttered to himself, "Merry Christmas to you buddy…no Fiona". He looked back at the flashing Christmas lights and the falling artificial snow, the sounds of the crew below echoing across the garden section and up to the bridge.

Cipher returned to the hangar just in time to see an exhausted Hibiki hold his hand out to Dita, dropping a small piece of ice into her hand that quickly melted away leaving a seed that immediately began blooming into a glistening flower.

"Oh it's so wonderful" Dita gasped upon seeing it before gently holding it against her heart, "I love it. Thank you Mr. Alien" she said before realizing Hibiki had passed out.

Cipher could feel herself smiling along with a single tear in her eye as she turned around, "Home" she muttered to herself, "Were Larry and I meant to come here?" she wondered before leaving to return to her room in the brig.

When she arrived she was surprised to see the captain waiting for her, "Ah there you are" the aged pirate said, "I do hope you decided to attend the parade, what did you think?" she asked her with a smile.

Cipher looked away from the captain, "I'm sorry captain…for earlier".

The captain chuckled lightly, "Nonsense my dear. I understand how you feel trust me. Our circumstances may be different, but we've both been through the same thing. I just wanted you to know that there are many people on this ship who will help you whenever you need it and not a single one of them would turn their back on you".

The captain smiled as she walked by Cipher, "Merry Christmas to both you and Larry my dear, I left you both a little something in your rooms".

With that the captain left, leaving Cipher wondering what it is that she left her. Entering her room, Cipher noticed a new set of clothes on her bed and a small open box that contained a silver chain and a pendant of the Galm team emblem along with a note next to it.

"I had this and a matching one specially made for you and Pixy, I hope you like it".

"Thank you captain" Cipher said quietly before setting the pendant and clothes on top of the chest at the foot of her bed and then lying down, _"Larry…we are friends_" she smiled, _"But I think I…"_

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** As the Emerald's Edge would say. "I'M BACK BABY!"

I spent most of my free time either writing my Sailor Moon fic or playing RE6 on my PS3, but recently I've turned out 3 chapters over the course of a week.

Ah its good to be the Queen.


	11. The Cage

In the gym, Cipher was standing away from Hibiki as he attacked the heavy bag hanging form the ceiling.

"_Boxing is easy enough to learn, simple, but effective" Cipher told Hibiki, as she showed him basic boxing strikes and footwork. Hitting the heavy bag several times she stepped away and nodded for him to do the same._

Hibiki stepped up to the heavy bag and held his arms out like Cipher showed him before locking his eyes on the bag and then punching it immediately backing off and shaking his arm from the pain.

"It's called a heavy bag for a reason" Cipher told him, "If you don't relax your arm when you swing you'll hurt yourself. And don't lock your eyes on it. If you stare at one point for so long you won't notice anything else. The bag isn't striking back at you, but just remember that if you ever get into a fight with someone else, always keep your eyes on their entire body. Footwork and arm positions as well as the direction they're looking will tell you everything you need to know about where they're going to strike".

Hibiki nodded and went back to hitting the bag, but once again Cipher stopped him.

"Keep your balance" she told him, "Throw your punches, but don't throw yourself at it. If you do that you throw yourself off balance. Ground your feet before you punch it adds to your strength".

"Alright I got it" Hibiki said before throwing a punch only for Cipher to stop him again.

"Don't push with your shoulders, not only will that allow your opponent to force you off balance, but it also leaves you open to counters and whatever you do never charge in head first. If you try pushing with your head it'll leave you completely open to uppercuts and trust me when I say how much they hurt".

"Can I start now?" Hibiki asked her.

Cipher nodded and Hibiki began attacking the bag, quickly tiring himself out as he tried to push the bag with his strikes.

"Stop, stop" Cipher said walking over to him. "Never push punch; you want to snap your punches".

"I want to what?" Hibiki asked her.

Cipher slowly moved her arm to demonstrate, "This is a push punch" she said pushing her arm all the way out to the peak of her reach, "A push punch as no place in boxing. A push punch is for martial arts only, it's supposed to be a punch pushed to the maximum length of your reach to maximize the damage you deal, but in boxing" Cipher paused and quickly threw out a punch before her arm snapped back into position, "You want to snap punch. Fire your arm out and snap it back into your stance to block. A snap punch also deals a great deal of damage and can also stun if you hit a sore or sensitive spot. And in boxing speed is everything. When you snap punch you need to follow these rules or you'll only succeed in tiring yourself out".

Cipher stepped back from the bag and slowly showed Hibiki the steps to a snap punch, "Relax first. Even in the midst of a fight you have to relax, a relaxed muscle has the greatest potential for speed. Secondly you want to go from that relaxed state and just explode!" Cipher quickly threw her arm out and retracted it.

"As the snapping punch is thrown, the arm quickly bursts from a state of rest into high velocity. An explosive exhale of breath will aid the explosive movement. And I don't mean release a long sigh; you need to shoot your breath out fast".

"Next what you need to do is release your grip on yourself. A problem a lot of beginners have is they like to hang on to their fist when they throw a punch. You won't realize it, but you're unintentionally tightening up the arm, squeezing the forearms and fist as they try to direct the fist to its target. Once you send your fist out with the initial burst at the beginning of the punch, just relax your body and let the fist fly out at full force. Again, don't try to control your arm or your fist once you throw the punch. Just let it go and trust that it will hit its target".

"This is the hard part" Cipher said as she slowly performed another snap punch, "You want to minimize contact time, tighten your fist right at the point of impact, make sure that when your fist hits you hear the smacking sound of when you strike and immediately after impact, relax the whole arm and quickly retract leaving the impact to disperse on the opponent".

Cipher walked over to Hibiki and grabbed hold of his shoulder and upper arm, making the young pilot blush. "Recovering quickly is tricky because you want to conserve energy but also make sure that you transferred the force from your fist to your opponent. If you pull back your arm too fast, you're punching power decreases and your shoulder muscles will use more energy to pull the fist back since it is simultaneously counter-acting against the triceps muscle that launched the fist out. If you allow the punch to travel out too much, it might become a pushing punch. The easiest way for me to know when the perfect time to retract the punch is to allow the force of impact naturally "bounce" my fist back to me. In the event that I am missing or shadowboxing as practice, my arm naturally returns the fist home in a relaxed manner once the arm is extended to a certain point".

"Can I start hitting the thing now?" Hibiki asked her.

"Not yet" Cipher told him, "You need to remember all of this otherwise you'll only end up breaking your own arm. Boxing is more about breathing as you strike than striking with sheer speed or power. Focus more on explosive breathing than explosive punching, relaxed breathing will keep you from tiring out quicker, it'll take some getting used to, but it's an easier thing to pick up".

"Another thing I want you to do is always move your feet. Never stop moving, even when you're resting or putting distance between you and the enemy always keep moving. Another thing that my trainer taught me is to throw three to six punches. That's what you want to aim for" Cipher threw a single punch before retracting her arm and throwing her other, repeating this three times until she threw out six punches. "It's easy to get the hang of it if you number your punches, so if you're right handed, your right arm is your main hand and your other arm is you're off hand and vice versa. Your main hand is numbers one and three while your off hand is number two and two alone".

Cipher slowly threw another punch and counted aloud for Hibiki to hear, "One, two and three" she paused before starting again, "One, two, three, three and two".

"Anything else?" Hibiki asked sounding irritated only to see the glare Cipher gave him, Hibiki gulped back his words before Cipher continued explaining things to him.

Cipher backed away from him, "The last thing I want you to do is always keep your hands up, never drop them for any reason. Don't drop your hands when you strike either, you need to keep defending yourself at all times. When you strike with your right hand, keep your left against your body to cover both your head and upper torso. And when you go to block keep your arms tucked against your body and your elbows down, fists to protect the head and arms and elbows to protect the body".

Cipher nodded signaling Hibiki to finally start and watched the young pilot strike at the bag over and over, landing a single chain of several hits before backing away and stepping around to the side to strike again, making sure to keep his arms parallel to his body, blocking against imaginary strikes.

Watching from the sidelines, Cipher could tell Hibiki took what she said to heart, so for now all he needed to work on was his stamina so he wouldn't tire out so quickly.

After a while Cipher stopped him again and told him to rest for a few hours before returning, but Hibiki claimed to be fine.

"I can keep going" he panted before becoming lightheaded and stumbling toward Cipher who quickly grabbed hold of him before he fell. When she caught Hibiki, Cipher remembered that this had happened to her once as well, back when she first joined Vanderwall and his group of mercenaries.

_Many members of the group didn't think Cipher was strong or even remotely good enough to be one of them and insulted her behind her back as well as voicing concerns that their leader was going soft. After a full contact sparring match against another member of the group, Cipher felt lightheaded as well and briefly fell to the floor. She could hear some of the men around her laughing at her saying that the little girl should go back to her dolls._

_Clenching her fists, Cipher jumped up and immediately leveled one of them with an uppercut before half spinning to the side and kicking out the knee of the man next to him. Once the second guy was on his knee, Cipher wrenched his arm behind his back and locked him in a choke hold with her right arm before letting go of his arm and taking his pistol to aim at the guy she knocked down as he got up._

_The two guys as well as everyone else in the room except Vanderwall were stunned at Cipher's speed and precision considering she was so tired after her match._

_That stunt gained Cipher a little respect in the group and seemed to succeed in stopping the insults behind her back._

Cipher gently pushed Hibiki back up, allowing him to catch his balance before letting go.

"Go shower and get some rest for now we can continue later" she told him before escorting him out of the gym.

"Hey um…Cipher" Hibiki said once they reached the elevator.

"What is it?" she asked him.

"Th…Thanks for training me" he said, "I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but I want you to know I really appreciate it".

Cipher forced away her smile as they got on the elevator, "I'm surprised you didn't ask Pixy instead. I was under the impression you're still afraid of women".

Hibiki lowered his head, "I don't think I'm afraid of women at all anymore…its just…I just don't know what to think, I hate to admit it, but I really don't know much about anything".

"Well you're a good pilot and mechanic, that's still something in of itself" Cipher told him as the doors opened and Dita immediately called out to him from the end of the hall.

"Oh there you are Mr. Alien!" she yelled waving to him.

Hibiki panicked, but Cipher gave him a light push, forcing him out of the elevator and closing the door behind him. Hibiki turned around to jump back inside the elevator, but was too late as the doors closed, hearing only Cipher's last words to him, "Good luck".

Dita ran over to Hibiki and grabbed his arm, "Hey, come with me Mr. Alien I need some help getting some boxes from the storage hold".

"What do you need me for?" he asked her, "Can't you get someone else to help you?"

Dita blushed with a smile and looked away, "Well you see…I just want you to help me, if you do I'll make you something good. Whaddya say?"

Hibiki felt his stomach growl and blushed as he looked to the side, "Fine whatever" he grumbled to which Dita smiled before pulling him down the hall.

In the supply room, Dita was grabbing several boxes of food from the shelves and stacking them in Hibiki's arms, he was still tired from his workout earlier so his arms felt a bit sore under the weight that kept getting added to him.

"What else do we need?" Dita asked herself before Hibiki told her to hurry up. Looking behind her Dita smiled at him, "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Alien that stuff is probably pretty heavy huh?"

Hibiki blushed again, "I can handle it I just…"

Dita smiled at him again, "You're so dependable, that's just like you" she returned her attention to the boxes, "Ah ha! This one!" she said grabbing a box of carrots.

"What are you doing?" Paiway asked after the box was removed, she had been hiding on the opposite side of the shelves, stalking them the entire time.

"Oh hi Paiway" Dita said with a small look of concern on her face, "We're just getting some supplies is all".

The young nurse narrowed her eyes with suspicion, "Sounds fishy to me".

"Well it has nothing to do with you Paiway" Dita told her before grabbing the box of carrots and turning around.

"Dita" Paiway said in a clumsy voice, "Don't you know what today is?"

"Today?" Dita asked, "I don't know".

Paiway seemed hurt for some reason before yelling, "Fine" and walking away.

"I really don't understand women at all" Hibiki muttered before Dita herded him out of the supply hold.

On the bridge, Parfet was using a modified telescope to scan the space ahead of the ship to see how far they were from Mejere.

"Well Parfet?" Magno asked her, "Do you have an estimate for us?"

"Well based on our current course and speed, I'd say we're almost halfway there" the engineer replied, "But then again maybe the harvest is already over and everyone on Mejere and Tarak are already dead".

Everyone on the bridge turned to look at her.

"That really wasn't a good choice for a joke Parfet" Pixy said as he entered the bridge.

Parfet smiled at him, "Sorry I guess my sense of humor still needs some work huh?"

Pixy shook his head before looking up to Magno, "Captain I'd like to speak with you once you have a free moment".

Magno smiled at him, "I always have time for my crew Pixy, what is it you would like to talk about?"

Pixy looked around the bridge before returning his eyes to Magno, "It isn't something I'd like to discuss within range of others".

Magno nodded, "Very well I'll be in the conference room, you can meet me there".

Pixy quickly saluted the captain as he chair started sliding up the ramp behind her, "Thank you captain".

In the women's quarters, Dita was skipping down the hall carrying the box of carrots and playfully calling back to Hibiki telling him to keep up, causing the pilot of the Vanguard a small manner of annoyance.

Peeking his head around the three boxes stacked in his arms, he noticed Dita had already left the hall, "Dammit" he muttered, "She could have at least waited for me. I don't really mind carrying these things, but I can't see where I'm going".

Walking past one of the rooms, Hibiki noticed that the door was cracked open and his curiosity once again got the better of him. He peered through the crack in the door to see Celtic changing out of her bear costume. Seeing the bridge bunnies bear body caused him to panic and lose his balance. Bumping his elbow into the panel for the door, Hibiki caused it to open as he was bracing against it and fell into the room being buried under the boxes he was carrying.

Hearing the crashing sound behind her, Celtic turned around and covered herself before seeing Hibiki laying on her floor buried under the boxes, "Sorry to barge in, but could you give me a hand?" he muttered clumsily before Celtic screamed and ran out of her room.

In the conference room, Magno took a sip of her tea, "Well now Pixy tell me, what is it that's bothering you?"

Pixy sat down across from the captain, "It's Cipher".

"What about her?" Magno asked him.

Pixy took a quick breath, he didn't want to feel like he was betraying Cipher's trust in him, but he felt that he had to do something.

"It's alright, take your time" Magno told him.

Pixy looked to her, "Cipher seems to be in a really bad way right now captain. She's beginning to realize that there's probably not a way for either of us to return to where we belong, back to Earth and I'm afraid it's starting to get to her. That video Dita found on Christmas…It really got to Cipher, she's really depressed even if she won't show it".

The captain closed her eyes, "I'm afraid there's not much I can do in this situation".

"I'm not asking you to do anything captain" Pixy said, "I'm hoping you could tell me what I could to do to help her…I…I just want to do something to help her through this is all".

"Have you not noticed it Larry?" Magno asked him. Pixy was surprised; in the time that he and Cipher had been on the ship the captain had not once called him by his name. "You claim to be her friend, but you miss such an obvious sign" Magno said to him, "She wants it to be you. She wants you to be the one to help her through this; even if she won't admit it".

Pixy smirked, "With all due respect captain, Cipher isn't exactly the type to be so…Yeah she's just not the type".

"You've got a lot to learn about women then Larry" she told him, "Even one as closed off and isolated as Fiona has her soft spots. And I can tell that you're the one she wants to save her from herself".

"She said she was ready to start trusting me again" Pixy said, "So why won't she just come to me if something's wrong? She's acting the same way she always has except now she's".

The captain cut him off, "Understand the way she sees it Larry. She's a strong woman who always looked after herself and felt as if she was alone for most of her life, its hard for her to open up to you and adding that you did betray her in the past she's probably fighting against herself on how she feels about you. If she said she's ready to start trusting you…I'm willing to bet that right now she's hoping you'll turn out to be the friend she wants you to be. She's using this as a way to see if you're really the friend to her you claim to be".

"So you're saying that she's testing me?" Pixy asked her.

"Not intentionally, but in a way" Magno replied, "She's too scared to show how she really feels, but in her heart she's crying for you to help her".

The captain smiled at him, "Trust me I've seen it many times, Fiona is a special girl, but when it comes down to it you just can't beat the experience and wisdom of someone my age".

Pixy looked down at the table, taking in what the captain said, "So what should I do? I want to help her, but I'm not sure how".

The captain continued to smile at him, "If you're really the friend to her that you claim to be, then I have no doubt you'll know what to do when the time comes".

Cipher was walking past the briefing room when she heard yelling from inside, whatever happened it caused quite a stir. Entering the room she saw Celtic and Paiway in the middle of the room yelling at everyone else. "What happened this time?" she asked coldly.

"That man charged into my room while I was changing clothes" Celtic said to her.

"Hibiki?" Cipher asked her, knowing that he would be the only one clumsy or dumb enough to do such a thing.

"That's not all he did!" Paiway told her, "He made Dita cry, see!" she showed a silent video of Dita crying with Hibiki standing behind her seemingly yelling at her.

"Is that all?" Cipher asked her.

"What do you is that all?" Paiway yelled, before looking to the rest of the women in the room, "We all seem to have forgotten one very important thing and that's that men are extremely dangerous".

"You're kidding right?" Cipher asked her, "You name one person on this ship whose match for me, man or woman".

"That's not the point" Celtic said, "Men are our enemies and after letting them roam free around the ship they've done nothing, but cause trouble".

"What have they done exactly?" Cipher asked her, "What has Duelo done to cause trouble? What has Bart done to cause trouble? What has Pixy done? The only one who's done anything wrong is Hibiki, but you seem to forget that if it wasn't for him none of you would be here right now. Without the Vanguard combining with Dita's dread we never would have survived the first encounter with the enemy. How easy it must be to blame someone you don't like while completely ignoring everything that person has done for you".

Cipher turned around, "People like you" she said looking at Celtic over her shoulder, "Are the kind I hate the most".

Cipher walked out of the room, leaving Celtic and Paiway furious. "I really don't like her" Celtic said, "She acts like she's so much better than we are. What would she know? She's not even one of us so she doesn't even have a right to be here!"

"I think you're forgetting your place Celtic" Meia said from the back of the room, "If you have a complaint then address it to the captain or the commander, but don't try and start a riot on the ship".

Celtic glared at Meia, "I would have thought you out of everyone would understand Meia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but after we took those men prisoner you wanted to just throw them off the ship".

Barnette spoke up, "That's right. It sounds like to me Meia you're taking the men's side".

"I'm just saying that if you let your emotions guide you then you won't make it very far" Meia told her, "And to start with you're all making a big deal out of something this trivial".

"Trivial?" Barnette muttered before yelling at the dread leader, "In case you've forgotten men are our enemies. I really hope you don't plan on siding with them Meia cause if you do".

"You'll do what?" Meia asked, cutting her off. "If I did decide to defend them in this situation what would you do about it? What would any of you do about it? Cipher's right if it wasn't for Hibiki we never would have made it this far. If it wasn't for Bart the ship never would have moved. If it wasn't for Pixy and Cipher several of you wouldn't even be here. And if it wasn't for Duelo I wouldn't be here right now. You all seem to have forgotten just how much we owe them right now".

"Owe them?" Barnette repeated, "I never asked them to help us and I damn sure never wanted to owe them anything".

"Then leave" Meia told her, "If you don't like it that much take your dread and leave, otherwise get over it". Meia left the room, leaving a steaming Barnette behind.

Once the doors closed behind her, Meia clenched her fists, "Those fools are going to cause us to lose everything".

"Which is why we're going to stop them" Cipher's voice said.

Meia looked to her left to see Cipher leaning against the wall, "You were standing there the whole time weren't you?" she asked her.

Cipher nodded, "I'm not going to let them jeopardize this ship with their own petty grudges. If the try anything I will stop them".

"How do you plan on doing that?" Meia asked her, "I know you're strong Cipher, but you can't take on half the crew and win".

"I think I'm going to employ violence" Cipher told her before walking away.

Meia immediately knew what Cipher was thinking and decided it best to warn the captain of a possible riot on the ship. Rushing to the bridge, Meia entered only to see that the captain wasn't there, "Where is she?" she asked herself before noticing BC's absence as well, "The conference room" she said to herself before running off again.

Over the next hour the ship had been enveloped by chaos with the majority of the crew returning to their old views of men as dangerous enemies and a select few deciding to stay out of the conflict.

Barnette tried to arrest Hibiki, but he managed to escape, fleeing to the hangar and taking off in the Vanguard, flying as far away as possible.

Duelo and Bart were trapped in the infirmary and forced to return to the brig where they would remain under guard. Pixy was safe for the moment due to Cipher's interference into the matter.

Barnette had tried to arrest Pixy as well, but Cipher stood between them refusing to move. Barnette threatened to arrest her as well, but Cipher held her ground continuing to stare coldly into Barnette's eyes.

For whatever reason, Barnette could tell what was going through Cipher's mind; she was playing different scenarios in her head trying to determine the best way to stop her. Against her own pride, Barnette knew there was no way she could contend with Cipher in hand to hand combat so her only option if Cipher resisted was her gun, but she had also seen Cipher's quick and deadly precision in the firing range.

Moving her eyes down to Cipher's right leg, she wondered to herself if she could fire before Cipher drew her own weapon or more importantly if Cipher would hesitate to kill her if she missed.

Barnette narrowed her eyes while Cipher continued to stare coldly at her, not saying a word.

"I'm warning you Cipher" Barnette barked, locking her arms in place with Cipher's chest lined in her sight. "If you don't stand aside I won't hesitate to".

Barnette stopped when she saw Cipher's hand dive down to her leg and retrieve her gun, but Cipher wasn't aiming it at her, she was aiming it at her own head.

"Tell me Barnette" Cipher began, "Have you ever been shot? Have you ever shot another person?" Cipher released the clip from her Five Seven and aimed it at Barnette, "Do you really want to try your luck right now? All I need is the one bullet in this chamber".

Barnette tensed up, angered by Cipher's taunt, "Don't you dare mock me!" she yelled before a gunshot echoed through the hangar.

Barnette's gun was lying on the floor and the green haired pilot was clenching at her hand which felt like it was painfully vibrating from the force of her gun being shot out of her hand. Barnette's eyes no longer showed anger, they showed fear, fear of the person standing across from her.

Cipher reloaded her clip into her Five Seven and stepped toward Barnette before kicking her gun away from her, "Its over" she told her, "This riot you've caused, the in fighting amongst the crew all of it…It ends now. There are more important things at stake than a pathetic squabble between blind people like you and Hibiki".

Cipher holstered her firearm and retrieved Barnette before walking back over to Pixy, "Next time I have to save you I'm charging you ten times the normal rate" she told him before walking away.

After Cipher left the hangar, Pixy looked to Barnette who was now glaring at him, "Look Barnette, whatever the reason behind you doing this I don't really care, but Cipher's right if we don't all stand together on this then we're going to lose".

"Shut it!" Barnette barked, "Don't you dare act like you know what I'm going through".

"I'm not acting like I do and quite honestly I don't care" Pixy said raising his voice, "Even if hate me, Hibiki and even Cipher you need to realize that we're helping you and everyone else on this ship survive. Or do you not care what happens to them?"

Barnette gasped before lowering her eyes; "I did this because I care about them" she lied.

"Did you?" Pixy asked her, "Or did you do it because you're so blinded by your upbringing? You need to learn how to look past such BS and learn to make your own perceptions. Just look at me and Cipher, before we ended up here we were friends, and we always watched each others backs, even now we still watch over each other that's what being a wingman means you protect the other members of your squad. And even though Hibiki has no idea on how to interact with the women on this ship he hasn't' once hesitated to help defend this ship. Do you know why? It's because he knows that if we don't stand together we've already lost".

Pixy paused for a moment to calm himself, "So when he returns to the ship I expect you to apologize to him".

With that, Pixy left Barnette alone in the hangar as he went to find Cipher.

Pixy looked seemingly everywhere for Cipher unable to find her. She wasn't in the gym, the firing range, her cell in the brig or even at the garden section. Her usual places and she was no where to be seen.

"_Alright Larry think"_ he thought to himself _"Her usual spots and she's not there. The gym, the firing range, her room, the garden the hang…"_ Pixy remembered what Cipher said a month ago about wishing she could just leave, "Fiona" he gasped before rushing back to the hangar, _"You wouldn't really leave would you?"_ he wondered as he ran across the massive ship.

Entering the hangar, he stopped when he saw Cipher climbing into her F-15, "Cipher!" he called before running over to her.

"What is it?" she asked him as if nothing was wrong.

"Where are you going?" Pixy asked.

"I'm going to look for Hibiki" she told him before sitting in her fighter, "Well what are you waiting for?" she asked looking down to him "Let's go".

Pixy was out of breath, but he managed to grin at her before walking over to his own fighter and climbing in.

"Galm 2 to bridge, Cipher and I are taking off to go find Hibiki".

"Very well then" the captain's voice replied, "You two be sure to bring that boy back to us safely now, he is one of us after all".

"Roger that captain" Pixy replied before the two mercenaries took off.

Both the F-15 and ADFX-02 quickly faded beyond radar coverage, leaving the motionless Nirvana behind.

"Hey Cipher" Pixy said over the radio as he flew on her wing, "Do you really think we can find him? There's no telling where he is right now".

"He's close Pixy" she said, "I don't know why, but I can feel it. He's out there in a battle right now and he needs help".

"A battle?" Pixy asked, "On his own?"

Cipher's voice sounded determined as she spoke, "We have to help him, he's going to die if we don't".

Pixy couldn't help, but smile at his buddy's words; she was worried about Hibiki and the crew of the Nirvana. Even if she felt like she didn't belong there she was going to help protect them.

After an hour of flying, the two pilots saw flashes of light far ahead of them and their radios began picking up chatter from multiple overlapping voices.

"Well that's definitely the sounds of battle" Pixy said, "Do you really think Hibiki's out there?"

"Who else do you know that has this kind of trouble following after them?" Cipher asked as they continued to fly toward the battle ahead.

"Well for one there's you" Pixy replied, "Remember the air battle in the Round Table after you destroyed that giant laser weapon? Trouble has a habit of following you as well buddy".

"Two unknown signatures have appeared on radar" a voice from the radio said, "They're both heading toward the combat zone".

Another voice came from the radio, "Pilots identify yourselves at once" it demanded.

"Should we help them out?" Pixy asked Cipher, "They're pretty out numbered".

Cipher activated her radio, "This is Galm 1 to the fleet ahead; we're coming in to assist you".

"This is the captain of the Melanos fleet; we'll welcome any aide we can get. Be advised there's a harvest flagship entering the combat zone".

"A flagship?" Pixy asked before seeing a large hit on his radar, "Cipher!" he yelled upon seeing the giant ship entering the area.

"Damn you all!" Hibiki's voice yelled over the radio as the Vanguard took off from the lead ship, "Do people really die as easily as she did!?"

The Vanguard cut its way through several enemies before Hibiki noticed Cipher and Pixy's fighters flying past him.

"What are you two doing out here?" he yelled after they flew by.

"Talk later" Pixy told him after shooting down a cube type, "Deal with the enemy first".

Hibiki returned his eyes to the enemy and resumed his offensive, taking down one enemy after another.

"Warning!" a voice form the fleet cried, "The flagship is preparing to attack all pilots evasive maneuvers now!"

"What do we do Cipher?" Pixy asked, "I'll follow you".

"Hibiki, Pixy break to the side and get as far away from that thing as possible now!" Cipher ordered as the giant harvest flagship began opening at its head and an ominous light began glowing larger and larger.

Hibiki, Pixy and Cipher sensed the danger of the oncoming attack and escaped to the side before the flagship attacked, watching in horror as the entire fleet before them was completely vaporized in a single attack.

"What the hell!" Pixy yelled after seeing the debris of the fleet that once was, "Cipher, Hibiki we can't win against that kind of firepower, we need to retreat".

"Galm 1 copies all, Hibiki we're leaving there's nothing more we can do".

"Dammit" Hibiki growled, "Damn you all!" he roared before activating the Vanguard's sword and charging head first toward the flagship, "I'll kill every single one of you!"

"Hibiki get out of there!" Cipher yelled at him as the flagship began charging its attack again.

"Hibiki!" Pixy and Cipher yelled as a flash of light blinded them.

Pixy opened his eyes, both Cipher and him were floating in a sea of turquoise light, they were no longer in their fighters and there was no sign of Hibiki or the Vanguard.

"Cipher?" Pixy called out as he tried to reach out to her, but he couldn't move.

"Are we…" Cipher's voice asked, it sounded distant and unemotional "Is this the end?" it sounded as if she didn't care if this was the end of them or not "Come on" her voice yelled in anger, "Let's see how good you really are!"

"Cipher what are you doing?" he asked before his vision cleared.

Cipher was standing not too far away from him, but there were two of her standing face to face with their fists raised as if they were fighting each other and behind them was what looked like a small cage.

Straining his eyes, Pixy tried to focus on the cage behind the two Ciphers he felt like he was being drawn to it.

Inside the cage he could see someone bound by chains and hunched over, he could barely hear the faint sounds of whoever it was crying while the two outside the cage continued to yell and fight with each other.

"Is that all you got!" one of the Ciphers yelled, "Pathetic!" her voice was filled with rage and accompanied by a condescending tone.

"What's the point?" the second Cipher asked, "Why do I continue to fight? It's not like I'll ever go home again so the money I've received up till now is useless. So what's the point in fighting?"

"The words of a coward" the first Cipher yelled, "To prove that I'm the strongest there is, the money is just a bonus that's all!"

Pixy was confused as to what was going on, there were two Ciphers fighting each other and the person in the cage behind them continued to cry, as she stared at the chains binding her arms together.

"Cipher?" he muttered.

The woman in the cage stopped crying and looked in his direction, "Larry" it called faintly, "Help me…please" the voice was filled with pain and sadness, but there was no mistaking that it was Cipher's.

Pixy's vision began blurring and the image of the three Ciphers ahead of him began fading from view, "Cipher!" he tried to call, but his voice feel silent as the light around him faded _"Cipher…Fiona…I swear I'll help you in whatever way I can"._


	12. Conflict

The crew of the Nirvana waited in infinite silence and tension for the return of the Galm team.

"It's been eight hours…" Ezra said, "You don't think they got lost or ran into the enemy do you?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it Ezra" Belvedere said to her, "If they ran into the enemy I'm sure they could handle themselves".

"Captain" Meia's voice said as her screen appeared above the bridge, "With your permission I'd like to go out and search for them".

"I confess that I'm beginning to worry myself" the captain replied, "Meia take someone with you and find them".

Meia nodded, "Roger that captain.

"Captain!" Aramone cried, "I'm picking up three signatures at the edge of the radar. Two are confirmed to be the Galm team and the third is…its Rabat's ship".

"Rabat?" the captain muttered before the image was shown above the bridge, Rabat's ship was flying toward the Nirvana with both members of the Galm team on either side.

The three ships landed in the hangar, with both Pixy and Cipher immediately exiting their fighters.

"Should we run?" Pixy asked as they met in front of Rabat's ship.

"We don't have much of a choice" Cipher responded while clenching her fists, "There's nothing we can do again that kind of firepower".

A squad of guards entered the hangar and aimed their weapons at Rabat's ship as the ramp extended down and the door opened revealing the conman carrying an unconscious Hibiki on his shoulder, "Lose something?" he asked before tossing the young pilot to the floor.

When he noticed that the swarm of guards all had their weapons trained on him and Pixy, Rabat smiled coyly, "Did something happen while I was away?"

"Put your weapons down!" Cipher demanded, surprising everyone before she turned to Pixy, "Larry go to the brig and free Duelo and Bart, Rabat you're coming with me to see the captain".

"Hold it!" Barnette's voice yelled. The green haired pilot stepped in front of the guards and aimed her gun at Rabat, "There have been a few changes on this ship, from now on men are no longer allowed to roam free".

Cipher lunged forward, grabbing Barnette's wrist and pulling the dread pilot toward her at the same time twisting the wrist to disarm her while using her free hand to give a swift, but light backhand slap to her throat to briefly stun her.

After stunning Barnette and taking her Desert Eagle, Cipher kicked the dread pilot in the back of her knee forcing her to the ground before violently grabbing hold of the back of her head and pulling it back and aiming the barrel of the handgun at the side of her throat.

Everyone, including Pixy and especially Barnette were shock and terrified of Cipher now, her usual cold stare was gone and had been replaced with a penetrating gaze that seemed even more frightful.

Quickly flicking her hand out to the side, Cipher ejected the clip from the Desert Eagle keeping direct eye contact with Barnette the entire time, "All I need is one bullet Barnette" she said in a very threatening voice, "Do you really want to go down this road again?"

The tense silence was quickly broken when Hibiki came to and immediately remembered what happened; quickly jumping to his feet he took off making his way to the bridge desperate to warn the captain.

Cipher released Barnette and looked over to Pixy, "Larry!" she barked, "Brig, free now!"

"Right, I'm on it" Pixy said before running off.

Cipher looked back to Rabat, "You're coming with me, when we get to the captain you're going to tell us everything got it".

"Don't suppose I get a choice in the matter" Rabat said as he started following Cipher to the bridge.

Arriving at the bridge, Cipher heard Hibiki telling the captain everything about what happened, "Their coming for us next I just know it. Those people fought with everything they had they were the complete opposite of those crazy people back on Anpathos".

"And because of that they perished" BC said, angering Hibiki.

Hibiki turned to her and yelled, "That may be true, but I can't just sit back and do nothing I can't let them die in vain like that!"

"Is this the first time you've seen someone die?" Magno asked him.

Hibiki clenched at his injured arm, remembering the face of the girl who helped him while he was on board one of the Melanos ship, "We have to beat them, if we don't we'll die to".

"That may be true, but brute force isn't always an answer" Magno said, "Do you really think we can win?"

"Honestly" Cipher said, catching everyone's attention, "I say we'd be better off running now while we still have a lead on them…But…I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I left a monster like that alive…we have to destroy it!"

"Oh Cipher you're here as well?" Magno said before seeing Rabat, "And it seems you've come to us yet again".

Rabat smiled, "Well I was just in the area and I decided I'd help the little boy get back home" Cipher jabbed her elbow into his stomach to shut him up.

"Rabat's presence is irrelevant at this time captain" Cipher said, "Our top priority right now should be preparing for battle. We need every hand on this ship on standby right now and I mean every hand".

Magno gazed down at Cipher, staring directly into her eyes. She wasn't surprised to see that under that cold stare she wore was a fear of what was to come as well as a desire to protect those around her. "Very well" the captain said, "BC go to the brig and release Bart and Duelo".

"I've already taken care of that captain" Cipher said, "Larry is releasing them as we speak, right now I need Ezra to contact Aramone, Celtic and Belvedere and tell them to return to their posts after that I need BC to initiate a battle ready status of the highest level. If someone is sleeping then wake them, if their off duty, tell them to get to work. We need to be ready because I don't plan on dying today".

Cipher looked to Hibiki, "Hibiki get to the hangar and start repairing the Vanguard, have the hangar teams assist you if need be, just make sure you're combat ready".

"Captain!" Ezra's voice cried, "Meia's dread has taken off from the Nirvana".

"What?" the captain gasped before an image of Meia's dread was shown flying away from the Nirvana, "That foolish girl" Magno groaned, "She should know better".

"Dammit!" Cipher growled before reaching her finger up to her ear, "Larry!" she yelled, "Meia took off to scout the area, get to hangar and get out there before she gets herself killed!"

"Roger" Pixy replied from his end, "Duelo and Bart are free, but they wouldn't leave their cell".

Cipher turned to BC, telling her to sound the alarm and then to Rabat telling him to not leave the bridge before she left for the hangar. "There's no time, get to the hangar" she told him.

By the time Cipher arrived in the hangar the alarm sounded, announcing the confirmed presence of the enemy. "Enemy formation detected" BC's voice yelled, "Dread teams prepare to scramble all hands to your stations and prepare for battle".

"Yo Cipher" Pixy called to her from his fighter, "Seems like they found us".

Cipher looked at her Eagle and then lowered her head, "Larry…in case the worst happens. I just want to say I…" Cipher stopped, clearly hesitating in what she wanted to say.

Pixy rubbed the back of his neck, "We're definitely going against the tide on this one, but I know we'll win. We were brought here for a reason and I doubt it's just so we can die against something like that".

Cipher suddenly had a determined smile as she look to her wingman and friend, "You're right, we're the Galm team since when as there been an enemy that could stop us?"

"Now that's the Cipher I know" Pixy laughed as the two mercenaries climbed into their fighters.

Cipher switched on her radio, "This is Galm 1, we're in position and ready to take off".

"Roger that Cipher" BC replied, "Do your best, we believe in all of you".

The Galm team took off from the Nirvana and flew off to meet up with Meia and the rest of the dread teams.

"Do you think we can win with just us?" Jura asked looking to Meia's dread.

"I don't know" Meia admitted, "But we have to try".

"We're going to win" Cipher told them, "Not because we have to, but because we're the only ones who can. We're the only ones who can fight these things so we're going to win anything less is unacceptable".

The enemy formation began its advance with the flagship at the center. Seeing the behemoth that wiped out an entire fleet with a single blow advancing toward them, Cipher's muscles began to tense and her grip on her flight stick tightened, _"I can't give in to fear now"_ she told herself, _"We have to win, I WILL WIN!"_

"Attention!" Pyoro's voice echoed from the radio, "You have no right to exist other than parts to be used by us".

"It's the enemy!" Ezra said, "They must be using Pyoro as a communication channel.

"Suppose you tell us who you are and where you're from" Magno said to the possessed NAVI-bot.

"We are messengers from the planet Earth. You are allowed to live only as provisions for the Earth's future".

"Earth?" Ezra muttered.

"That's the planet our ancestors came from" Aramone said.

"Hey Cipher!" Pixy yelled, "Did you hear that?"

"They came from Earth?" Cipher muttered, "These things we've been fighting…they came from Earth?" Cipher felt her hand cramping from gripping the flight stick too _"So Earth still exists, but now it's only a..." _Cipher looked out to the enemy formation, "So there really is no way back home for me now…"

"You must follow your destiny" the enemy told them, "The act of denying the future that must come to pass is against the order of the Earth. If you fight this the only other alternative is complete destruction".

"The communication has ended" Ezra said after Pyoro fell back to the floor on the bridge.

"Captain!" Aramone yelled, "Rabat's ship has departed and is retreating from the area".

"So you've decided to run away with your tail between your legs" Magno said to Rabat.

"Does a tree bear fruit if it dies?" the conman asked her, "And I assume you'd rather not die is that right?"

Magno smiled "Yes unfortunately for you".

"Righty right!" Rabat saluted, "I'm sure we'll meet again somewhere".

"Should we just let him go?" Pixy asked as the approaching enemy began entering attack formations.

"Leave him" Cipher ordered, "We have a more immediate concern".

Watching the countless enemies ahead of them spread out Cipher decided it was time, "Pixy go!" she yelled before flying forward to meet them head on.

The Galm team sped forward, forcing Meia to order the dread teams into battle behind them.

When they got closer to the enemy, the pilots realized just how many they were up against being completely outnumbered several times over.

"Hey buddy" Pixy said in an amused tone, "Kinda reminds you of our second time over the Round Table huh?"

Cipher smirked, "Well let's see if they put up a better fight then Belka did that day, split off and engage at will".

"Pixy roger".

The battle began and almost immediately, the enemy had the upper hand. Somehow they had not only learned to evade attacks, but they now were able to predict the flight patterns of the Nirvana's forces.

Both Cipher and Pixy were fine on their own, but the dread pilots were pushed to their limits from the beginning. "Pixy" Cipher began while she evaded a spike sphere, "Take your burst missile and target the center of the far flank, wipe out as many of these things as you can".

"Negative" Pixy replied, "Meia and Dita will be caught in the blast I can't risk it".

"They've learned to predict our movements" Meia gasped after just barely avoiding a collision with an enemy "Everyone remain alert at all times".

The dread teams were in complete panic and the enemy took advantage of it, easily keeping the pilots away from each other, isolating them from any form of assistance, but that wasn't all. The Nirvana was slowly being pulled out of position.

"What's going on?" the captain asked.

Ezra had the answer, "The planet at our 10 o clock has a really strong magnetic field and is drawing the Nirvana to it".

"High density of gas particles detected" Belvedere announced after scanning the planet, "If this keeps up there will be system abnormalities".

The captain growled, "Just what we need at a time like this"

Out in space, the battle continued to grow worse and worse and now even the Galm team was having trouble keeping up, "Dammit!" Cipher growled after taking a hit.

"Cipher" Pixy gasped after watching her get hit.

"I'm fine" Cipher snapped, "Just stay focused".

"Cipher look out!" Dita yelled as a large swarm of enemies flew toward the female mercenary.

Cipher jerked her fighter into a tilted half loop to avoid the enemy wave and surprisingly they didn't follow after her they retreated away from them before they began circling around each other along with several other swarms mimicking their movements.

"What are they doing?" Pixy wondered before the circles of cube types merged together revealing copies of the Vandreads, Cipher's Eagle and Pixy's Morgan.

BC was taken by complete surprise, "They've learned to make copies of the Vandreads!? How is this possible?"

"Cipher!" Pixy yelled as the fakes started their attack.

"Larry, use that bomb now!" Cipher yelled as the copies of her Eagle, Vandread Meia and Vandread Dita started attacking her.

"You're too close you'll get caught in the blast" Pixy argued.

Cipher evaded several lasers from her pursuers, but the copy of Vandread Jura appeared in front of her, firing another laser that clipped the fighter's canopy, almost shattering it.

Seeing the damage to her canopy, Cipher knew that another shot like that even just a graze would destroy it, leaving her vulnerable to the vacuum of space, "Dammit" she growled quietly, "I've had enough of you!"

Cipher tilted her fighter down and forced a quick deceleration before turning to the side and pulling a sharp loop getting behind the targets and firing several missiles at her targets, hitting each of them, but failing to destroy them.

"Cipher on your 12!" Pixy yelled as the copy of his fighter roared head first toward Cipher's fighter.

Cipher looked up at the copy of the ADFX-02 and everything began running in slow motion for her as parts of her life began flashing in her mind. The enemy was too close for her to avoid a direct collision with one way or another, this was it.

"I'm sorry" her voice said over the radio, as her fighter tilted up and to the side as the enemy ADFX-02 fired its laser while Cipher fired a missile at the same time.

The laser hit the underside of her fighter and the missile made a direct impact against the enemy Morgan destroying it, but the close proximity to the missile's detonation caused even more damage to Cipher's F-15.

"Cipher!" Pixy yelled while the rest of the pilots and crew on the Nirvana watched Cipher's fighter get hit and then engulfed by the small explosion.

Seeing the unbelievable sight before them, BC quickly jumped into her terminal, "Cipher! Cipher do you read? Cipher!"

There was no answer, not even static.

"No" Dita gasped, "You don't think?"

"Gascogne!" BC yelled from the bridge.

"I'm already on it" the Reg leader replied getting into her shuttle, "Someone cover me".

Gascogne's delivery shuttle left the Nirvana and made a straight line toward Cipher's damaged F-15, set on rescuing it and the pilot inside.

Seeing the shuttle, the enemy turned their attention to Gascogne, but their attempts were thwarted thanks to Pixy who intervened by firing several missiles to force the enemy away.

The arms of Gascogne's shuttle grabbed hold of the damaged Eagle and immediately put up its shields before retreating back to the Nirvana with Pixy, Meia and Dita covering her escape.

"Meia here, all units retreat back to the Nirvana at once. I repeat all units fall back".

The pilots all returned to the safety of the Nirvana's shields even though the ship continued to drift closer and closer to the gas planet ahead of them.

Pixy immediately landed in the hangar and jumped out of his fighter, running over to the wreck that was Cipher's Eagle.

The F-15 had sustained extreme damage from the close impact, most of the underside was torn apart and the canopy was shattered so the hangar team could get Cipher's body out.

Once Cipher was pulled free from the fighter, Pixy ran over to them just as they placed her on an infirmary bed. "Cipher" Pixy said, but Cipher didn't respond. She was laying on the bed with her eyes closed and a small amount of blood running from her temple, thankfully she was still breathing, but barely.

Pixy helped the hangar team get Cipher to the infirmary where Duelo was waiting.

Once they reached the infirmary, Duelo began checking Cipher's vitals she was definitely still alive, but her heart rate was well below normal and it was slowing down more and more.

Duelo asked Pixy to help him place monitoring patches on Cipher's body to help him get a full check into her condition. While Duelo set up the monitor, Pixy silently apologized to Cipher as he removed her shirt and began placing the patches against her bare skin.

Moving his hand up to her shoulder, Pixy noticed a scar under her shoulder, "You never told me about this one" he said to himself as he gently rubbed his finger over it, it was long since healed, but whatever cut her had to have been bad.

Pixy moved his hand to place the last patch on Cipher, but once he touched her, she shot up into a sitting position and grabbed hold of his wrist while choking him with her other hand.

"Cipher its ok" Pixy tried to say through the pressure against his windpipe, "It's alright, its me" he choked before Cipher came back to reality and slowly loosened her grip.

Cipher looked up to her wingman, but everything around her was spinning and her head was in incredible pain.

"You'll be fine" Duelo told her as she placed her hand against the side of her head, "At most you just have a minor concussion, but you need to rest all the same or it'll worsen".

"The enemy?" Cipher muttered, "I can't be laying here with them still out there".

Cipher looked like she was about to try and get up, but instead her vision completely faded and she felt like she was falling.

"Cipher!" Pixy quietly yelled as Cipher's body went limp and she fell into his arms.

Duelo calmed his concerns, "She just passed out, she'll be fine, but I still need to treat her".

Pixy gently laid Cipher back on the bed and turned around, "I need to head back in case they need me…Duelo please, do everything you can for her".

"I will" Duelo told him before Pixy ran off to return to the bridge.

_Cipher was standing alone in an open field, a small patch of green grass under her feet, but the surrounding area was different. To her right was a scorched field with trees that were still burning with open briefcases and envelops of money lying around._

_And to her left was nothing, no trees of cases of money, just an empty space of ground without grass and lit by a flickering dim light._

_As she looked at them she had mixed feelings that seemed to be pulling at her. From her right she felt a rush of adrenaline, thrill and anger as she looked out at the destruction and money, but to her left she felt nothing, but despair and loneliness accompanied by a cold air._

_The area around her was evenly split between the two minus the single spot of grass under her that was just enough for her to stand on._

"_What is this?" she wondered as she looked between the two areas, trying to ignore the tugging feelings she had from both sides, "Is this…how I see my life?" Feeling an unbearable pain in her head Cipher clenched both of her hands against it, struggling against the powerful headache that was overwhelming her, "No!" she yelled, "This isn't me, none of this is!...This isn't what I want I don't want any of this!"_

_Cipher fell to her knees still clenching at her head, "I don't want this!" she screamed before her headache lessened and a pair of voices echoed above her._

_Cipher looked up, the sky above her matched the two areas on both sides of her, but there was also a single space of open blue sky directly over her, just like the patch of grass she was kneeling on. From that single space of clear sky she could hear two voices as well as see a pair of silhouettes. She couldn't make out who they were or if they were male or female, but she could hear their words even if just barely._

_The two voices were calling out to her, telling her to come with them to free herself from the pain around her, but that wasn't all. More voices started speaking, they sounded further away and more silhouettes began appearing behind the first two all of them sounding just as welcoming as the first two._

_Cipher slowly reached her hand up to the sky, reaching out to the figures above her, wanting to be free from what she was trapped in, but right as the two silhouettes reached out to her she withdrew her hand feeling a pain in her chest and a different kind of fear in her mind. She was afraid of being left in the place she was now, but she was also afraid of the figures above her, unsure of if they would accept and protect her or reject her._

_Cipher looked to the ground at the small patch of grass that slowly started to fade away as it was consumed by both sides. And just as it was about to be completely engulfed she closed her eyes and quickly jumped back to her feet before reaching out to the figures above her once again._

_Both of the figures grabbed hold of her hand and slowly started pulling her up as the two areas below her vanished entirely._


	13. The Road Ahead

"I'm afraid it's much worse than I originally thought" Duelo said, sitting in front of the massive console in the infirmary.

"How bad are her injuries?" Magno asked him from the bridge.

"I'm afraid they vary" Duelo told her, "She has some minor bruising against the side of her temple, but that isn't all. She also has a minor concussion and some internal bleeding in, as well as a few bits of shrapnel in her leg from the damage she sustained in her fighter. I'm sorry to say there's not a whole lot I can do for her even with the amount of supplies I have".

Magno closed her eyes, silently praying before she opened them again, "Will she survive?"

"I'm afraid there's no way for me to tell just yet. I'm still running tests and stabilizing her condition, but I'm getting some minor interference in the med bay systems".

Magno remained calm in her response, "There's a nearby planet with a strong gravitational pull. The closer we get to it the more interference in the Nirvana's systems. We're trying to devise a way to escape, but with the enemy hounding us it's going to be difficult".

Duelo's calm voice sounded panicked for a second, "We need to keep the systems as clear as possible captain, I can't operate on Cipher's wounds otherwise".

"Do what you can for now Duelo. I'm afraid in a situation like this there's not much we can do". The captain ended the communication with the infirmary and growled mentally at how helpless she was to help her crew in a time like this.

BC looked to the captain and spoke her mind like always, "We're all worried about Cipher as well captain, but we must place our priority on surviving the enemy for now".

The captain stayed quiet for a few seconds before she answered, "I don't like it, but you're right BC. If we don't survive the enemy then she'll die anyway. We have to take our chances…keep the shields up and dive straight into the planet".

"C…Captain!?" Belvedere gasped.

"Do it!" the captain ordered, "It's our only chance".

The Nirvana retreated into the planet below forcing the enemy fleet to break off their pursuit after the copy of Vandread Meia was crushed under the intense pressure of the planet's gravity.

For now the Nirvana was safe, but there was no way they'd be able to escape through the other side of the planet before the shields gave way and if they turned around they'd run straight into the enemy.

During their retreat, Meia's dread also took a hit from the copy of her Vandread and as a result she suffered a shrapnel wound to her shoulder.

Seeing their leader being pulled away on a cart devastated the dread pilots even further not only was Cipher, someone they saw as invincible even though most of them were intimidated by her, but now Meia as well was being taken to the infirmary.

Jura leaned her back against the wall and slid down into a sitting position before hugging her legs close to her chest and Dita's seemingly infinite cheery disposition vanished.

"Don't worry about me" Meia said giving them a pained smile, "I'll be fine".

Dita watched the response team cart Meia away just as Pixy reentered the hangar, "Mr. Pixy!" she called before running over to him, "Please tell me Cipher is ok, she has to be!"

Pixy quickly turned his head to the side thinking of a way to tell her without making her feel worse, "Its not looking good" he told her, "But don't worry I've seen Cipher survive worse".

Dita saw the fake smirk on Pixy's face and lowered her head, "I hope you're right. I don't want anyone to die I want everyone to stay happy, there's got to be something we can do! There's just got to be!"

All around them, the sound of creaking steel echoed as the ship began to feel the pressure of the planet's intense gravity.

"ARGH I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Jura yelled, "I can't stand picking fights we can't win! It's all useless!"

"That's not true!" Dita cried at her, "We can still survive this! There's got to be a way!"

The red head immediately ran out of the hangar, leaving Jura sitting against the wall and Pixy staring at the wreckage of Cipher's F-15.

"For the first time in my life" Pixy said getting Jura's attention, "I've never felt this helpless about anything…I wish there was a way, but right now I can't think of anything that would help".

Pixy realized that Jura was listening to him and promptly apologized to her, "Sorry, I'm not making you feel any better am I?"

Jura looked away from him and brought her knees closer to her chest, "Why did this have to happen?"

"I can't answer that" the mercenary replied, "I know its hard to right Jura" he said before stopping to take in his own advice, "But try to think positive, we're definitely in a tight place right now, but there's always a way out no matter how bad it looks".

Jura wanted to take his advice, but no matter how much she wanted to she couldn't see any possible way for their situation to get better, "How?" she asked him, "How can there be a way out of this? Meia's injured and Cipher might…How can we survive this?"

Pixy looked at the ground, "We simply have to believe" he said, "I can't give you an answer other than that. If we believe then maybe a miracle will happen remember when Hibiki and Dita first combined into the Vandread when all of this started? And when Hibiki and Cipher saved Meia from that trap on the desert planet? We've seen miracles happen before we just have to believe it can happen again".

Jura gave him a small, fearful smile, "I want to believe you, but I just can't see a way out this time…"

In the infirmary, Duelo noticed Barnette had a minor cut on her arm and asked the fiery pilot if she wanted him to treat it, but of course she violently denied his offer, slapping his hand away.

"I don't need the help of a man" she told him, "In case you've forgotten I wanted all of you men locked in your cells for good".

Duelo remained adamant against her hostility, "Regardless of whether or not you trust me, right now I'm your doctor and I only want to help".

"Doctor!" Dita's voice cried as she barged into the infirmary, "We need a medicine to make everyone happy again".

"I understand your concern Dita" Duelo began, finally giving up trying to treat Barnette's injury, "But there isn't any kind of medicine like that".

"But there has to be something!" Dita cried to him, "Everyone is saying its hopeless!"

"That's right!" Paiway yelled from the corner, "Its all over we're all going to die!"

"Paiway!" Dita gasped, "You can't give up".

"Dita open your eyes!" the nurse yelled, "We're risking our lives for a planet that doesn't even care about us and now we're about to die! We should have just run when we had the chance now it's all over!"

"How can you think that way?" Dita asked her before looking to Barnette, "You don't think its hopeless do you Barnette?"

"Leave me out of this!" Barnette demanded, "You know I've never been a fan of your optimism and your undying bubbly spirit".

Dita lowered her head, "I know you think I'm stupid, but I don't know what else to do other than to try my best. I just don't want everyone to be so sad…IS THAT SO WRONG!?"

No one answered her, the room was filled with an atmosphere of dismay and fear, "It's not hopeless" Dita quietly cried, "We can still win we just have to think of a way to…" Barnette cut her off, "Dita will you just shut up already! None of us want to hear your sappy speeches right now".

Dita took a step back, her eyes immediately filled with tears from Barnette's words. Barnette was prepared to say something else, but someone spoke from behind her.

"Will you all stop yelling already" a groggy voice said.

Everyone looked to the back corner of the room to see Cipher sitting up in her bed and yanking the monitor patches from her body.

"Cipher you shouldn't get up" Duelo told her, "You need to rest, you're badly"

Cipher held up her hand, silently asking him to be quiet, "I appreciate your concern Duelo, but I refuse to lie here when there's a job to be done".

Cipher got up and rubbed the side of her head, "Now then" she began ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at her naked torso, "You" she said pointing to Barnette, "No more yelling, in fact no more talking unless your going to say something nice, and you" she continued pointing at Paiway, "You need to get to work helping Duelo take care of the injured people".

Cipher grabbed her shirt and blazer jacket from the table next to her bed and dressed herself before leaving the room, stopping at the doorway next to Dita. "And you" she said placing her hand on the red head's shoulder, "No more crying, we haven't lost yet".

After Cipher walked away, Dita looked back at everyone still in the infirmary; Meia and Duelo were looking at her as well while both Paiway and Barnette continued to think it was over. "It's not over" Dita said to them, "We're going to get through this I just know we will".

The red head ran out of the infirmary, leaving them behind, _"It's not over"_ she thought to herself, _"I refuse to let it end like this, I…I don't want to see everyone so sad we have to win!"_

Cipher made a stop in engineering after she overheard some of the crew talking about how the Peksis was reacting.

"Parfet" she said after the door opened.

The head engineer cheerfully greeted her despite the situation around them, "Oh Cipher how are you feeling?"

"I've been through worse" Cipher simply said before looking at the Peksis, "So what's it doing?"

Parfet looked back at the Peksis as well, "As far as I can tell its building up an internal pressure so it will survive the force of the planet around us".

"So it's preserving itself?" Cipher asked her to which Parfet nodded before tilting her head and comically pointing at the giant crystal.

"Ever since this journey of ours first started I've had more and more suspicion that the Peksis might actually be a living thing, but this definitely proves it. Its in danger of dying just like us so it's trying to preserve itself".

Cipher stared at the giant crystal for a few minutes, thinking about the dream she had after she was injured. "Is it safe to go inside?" she asked Parfet.

"I don't detect any signs of radiation or anything harmful inside the reactor, but I have no way of predicting what could happen inside it the Peksis continues building in pressure like that".

"Whatever happens, happens" Cipher said before heading for the door leading into the reactor, "See if you can't find Pixy for me, I need to talk to him and the captain when I'm done in there".

Entering the Peksis reactor, Cipher walked across the catwalk and stopped directly in front of the Peksis, noticing the change in its color as she approached it.

Cipher leaned her back against the railing, "You brought me and Larry here…why?" Hearing a loud humming and creaking sound from the Peksis and the ship's interior, Cipher closed her eyes, remaining completely calm in the face of their impending end, "You've helped us before, so why stop now? Or do you just not care what happens to them? You just helped because you thought it would fun?"

The Peksis continued to change from a light bluish green color to a light red, almost in response to Cipher's inquiry something Parfet noticed and reported to the captain.

"She's doing what?" Magno asked.

"Its hard to believe, but she's talking to the Peksis and it seems to be responding to her" Parfet reported before showing them a video feed from inside the reactor.

Parfet only meant to show the bridge the video feed, but the abnormalities in the ship's systems caused the video feed to be broadcast to the entire ship.

"So why don't you just go ahead and admit it?" Cipher asked the Peksis, "You're scared just like the rest of us? Afraid that this might be the end so you're trying to preserve yourself while we all die".

The Peksis continued to turn a brighter red in response to Cipher's words, "I may be afraid, but I'm not going to let that stop me" she said, "I'm going to go out there and fight, to show them that even in our current situation there's still someone who won't back down. We're going to survive this with or without your help".

Cipher pushed off the railing and gave the Peksis a smug grunt before she began walking away. The female mercenary only took a few steps before the Peksis unleashed a bursting wave of energy around the reactor, forcefully knocking Cipher to the ground.

Cipher groaned as the pain from her injuries came flooding back in force and her vision quickly faded to black.

"Parfet!" BC yelled from the bridge after they witnessed what happened.

"Standby" Parfet replied, "Running scans in the reactor room".

Parfet began a full scan of the reactor room to see if Cipher was still alive after the burst of energy knocked her out.

"She's alive, but her vitals are barely showing up!"

"We need to get her out of there on the double!" Magno ordered.

Parfet tried to open the door to the reactor room, but it was sealed for some reason, "Oh no!" she gasped, "The door is sealed I can't get inside!"

"Cut it open if you have to Parfet!" Magno ordered, "Get her out of there!"

"What's the point?" Paiway said in the infirmary, unaware that the entire ship could hear her, "We're all going to die anyway so why should we bother saving her?"

"Paiway" the captain groaned before closing her eyes, "I refuse to let it end like this for any of us" she said to herself.

The video feed showing the reactor room went to static before showing a blurry first person view of inside the cockpit of a fighter, "Cipher I've heard stories about you" Pixy's voice said, "They say you've got what it takes to win".

Suddenly many overlapping voices started yelling from the video feed making it impossible to distinguish them from each other. Hundreds of shorts images flashed on the screens, showing several battles from a first person point of view, but it didn't take long for the crew to realize that they were Cipher's memories.

"All planes break break!" a voice yelled before a massive laser was fired at the group of fighters, shooting down a large plane with a tube hanging from its underside, "The tanker's been shot down!" a different, younger voice said.

"This is Eagle Eye" the first voice said, "Galm team, Crow team listen up. The Excalibur weapon is protected by a line of jammers, you'll have to destroy each of them to target the weapon itself, just keep an eye on your radar for the projected firing pattern of the laser, I know you can do it!"

The images continued to flash by in a rapid order, with the voices overlapping each other and only a few were heard over the other.

"Target destroyed!" the younger voice yelled, "It was Cipher, Cipher did it!"

"40% of allied forces already lost!" a panicked voice yelled as a new image showed a massive air battle over a giant deserted mountain range that resembled a large rounded crater, "We can't last much longer like this!" a second voice yelled, "Where are the reinforcements!?"

Another image appeared, showing two fighters flying toward the air battle at top speed, "Time to dive into the fireworks" Pixy's voice said before the two fighters entered the battle.

"Our reinforcements are here, who did they send us?"

"IFF has confirmed its Galm, the reinforcement team is Galm!"

"The guy who pulled out Tauberg's sword is here" a voice said, "Be careful".

"So he's finally showed himself?" another voice asked, "That Ustio mercenary, I'll shoot him down and make a name for myself!"

"Enemy threat level has dropped below 50%" Eagle Eye's voice said, "Keep it up, we're almost there".

"Looks like Galm has revived the front line" an allied pilot said.

"Dammit the captain's gone!" a voice yelled, "Confirm the chain of command!" the voice was replaced by static as the pilot requesting the confirmation was shot down by both Pixy and Cipher who attacked from both sides before flying past each other as if they were in an air show instead of a battle.

"That mercenary is destroying everything in his path!" an enemy pilot yelled, "We can't stop him another one just went down!"

"How can one pilot be so dangerous?"

"He can't be human…"

"That kind of pilot they call a Demon Lord"

"Warning eight additional targets approaching the battle at high speed, Galm team you are cleared to engage, take them out!"

The eight fighters were revealed to be MiG-31 Foxhounds with a red and black paint scheme, the 13th Night Fighter Air Division, 6th Tactical Fighter Squadron the Schwarze team.

"That Foxhound with that emblem" Pixy muttered, "Is that the Vulture?"

The images showed a long grueling battle between the two pilots of Galm team and the eight wings of Schwarze, these MiG pilots were exceptionally skilled, pursuing their target three to one while they chased after a single one who played bait, but in the end the pilots of Schwarze began falling before the flight lead himself was shot down and the battle officially ended.

Finally the images slowed down, showing a small scale air battle above a valley, with multiple planes being shot down one after another. While plane after plane was shot down, two lone fighters flying through the valley at lower altitude made it to the dam facility at the end, destroying the Anti Aircraft Artillery around the facility before a single F-15 with an emblem of an orange dog flew into the underground part of the facility to destroy the inside.

"The launch controls have been destroyed; facility confirmed to be shut down, the V2 launch has been stopped".

The F-15 flew out of the facility and was joined by an F-16 flying to its side, the pilot of the F-16 was cheering at their victory, "I've got a girlfriend back at the base, I'm going to propose to her when I get back. I even bought flowers".

Eagle Eye began yelling, "Warning! Warning! Unknown aircraft approaching at high speed break! Break!"

"What!?" the pilot of the F-16 yelled as he turned in front of the F-15 as a laser was fired at them, "Dang it!" he yelled just before the laser hit him, destroying his fighter.

The shockwave from the exploding fighter completely shattered the canopy of the F-15, leaving its pilot exposed to the cold air around her as the unknown aircraft appeared.

"So have you found a reason to fight yet?" Pixy's voice asked, "Buddy".

"Is…this when Pixy and Cipher fought each other?" BC muttered as they continued to watch the video along with the rest of the crew, while the ship around them continued to give way under the pressure of the planet.

The dog fight between the former allies was heated from the beginning, two former allies and friends now fighting against each other.

"Those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they're invincible" Pixy said after evading one of Cipher's missiles, "I bet you do to buddy".

"There's no mercy in war, people live and people die that's all there is to it!"

Evading another one of Cipher's missiles, Pixy turned to counter attack, but was hit by a quick strafe of gunfire, damaging the laser on his fighter, making it useless. "Heh, this is the way its supposed to be buddy, a couple of old dogs like us fighting one on one".

"This isn't over yet buddy, this is where it all starts. You know what I mean".

Pixy and Cipher's dogfight continued the swift reaction times and evasion maneuvers almost made it seem like their fighters were dancing in the sky.

"You fired up yet?" Pixy asked, "Come and shoot me down!"

Cipher's missile impacted Pixy's fighter again forcing Pixy to his final goal in their fight, "Its time!"

A massive missile was launched from the dam facility below them and quickly rose into the atmosphere.

"Dammit!" Eagle Eye yelled, "Confirmed launch of V2!"

"Too bad buddy" Pixy said, "This twisted game needs to be reset; we'll start over from zero with this V2 and entrust the future to the next generation".

"Listen up Galm 1" Eagle Eye said after completing his analysis of Pixy's fighter, "Analysis of the enemy craft is complete, Codename Morgan. It's protected by an advanced ECM defense system. Its only weak points are the twin front air intakes under the wings, go take down Morgan; you're the only one who can stop it. Demon Lord of the Round Table, I pray for your success".

Cipher and Pixy flew toward each other, gaining an immediate lock on the other, but neither of them fired they held their fire until they were close enough to ensure the other didn't dodge. Various voices and images flashed through Cipher's mind as her thumb hovered over the fire button for her final missile and when the two fighters were only a few hundred feet from each other she fired her last missile before jolting to the side.

"Come on!" Pixy yelled just before the missile hit him and he turned his fighter away.

Both fighters passed by each other turning in opposite directions before the damaged Morgan went into an uncontrollable nosedive, "This isn't over yet buddy" Pixy said before manually detonating the V2 in the atmosphere above them.

The crew watched the nuke go off and a familiar bright light engulfed the area before the video screens turned to static and returned to Cipher in the reactor room, the pilot slowly returned to her feet, groaning from the unbearable pain in her body.

Grabbing the railing next to her, Cipher forced herself to her feet and looked at the Peksis, "I did not…come this far…to die now. I'm going to win…WE'RE GOING TO WIN!"

Cipher ignored her pain and left the reactor, leaving the engineering deck and returning to the hanger completely unaware that the entire crew had seen her memories.

Entering the hanger, Cipher saw BC talking to Hibiki in front of the Vanguard.

"Have you considered using boosters?" the commander asked the young pilot.

Both Pyoro and Hibiki looked at her, "We've already added boosters to our calculations, but we still fall 20 seconds short of a complete escape" the NAVI-bot answered.

"So that's the way it is huh?" Hibiki muttered.

BC smiled at him, "You seem to have changed a bit, you look better to me than you used to".

Hibiki kept his eyes on Pyoro's screen, "Look if you're up to something I really don't have time for it".

"Nothing of the sort" BC replied, still smiling, "I'm trying to pay you a compliment".

"Hey everybody listen up!" Dita's voice suddenly echoed from the speakers around the ship, "We might lose and we might die, but that's what life is isn't it? We've all decided to fight this battle and we decided to fight it because we didn't want someone other than ourselves deciding our future for us or controlling our destinies, but now you're all losing heart and giving up. That's a mistake please don't say it's hopeless because if you say so then it'll become true. I'll never give up and I'll never say it's hopeless because I want to be with all of you forever because I love all of you, so you have to look deep within your hearts to find hope. Cipher already did, so why can't all of you?"

"Oh great she's dragging me into this" Cipher muttered to herself.

"If we give up now then we're going to lose, but I'm telling you we can still win I know we can! So please…don't give up".

For better or for worse, Dita's words seemed to get through to everyone, the entire crew went back to work preparing for the next round against the enemy not a single one of them showing any signs of giving up, it was full speed ahead from here.

BC left Hibiki to his planning and noticed Cipher watching them from below, "How are you feeling?" she asked her.

"I'll feel a lot better once I'm back out there" Cipher told her, "What's the status on my fighter?"

BC told her that he fighter was too damaged to be repaired, the canopy alone would take weeks to replace, but the underside of the fighter's body was so damaged there was no way to repair it at all. "I'm afraid your fighter is lost" BC finally told her.

"Then how about a dread?" Cipher asked her, "Is there a spare dread I can use?"

"There's a spare dread in the auxiliary platform, it belonged to one of our crew that we had to leave behind on Mejere".

"Then I'll use that" Cipher told her, "Its time to get back into the fight".

"Yo Cipher!" Pixy called from behind them, "Looks like your feeling better".

Cipher turned around to face him, he was smiling at her, "And what are you smiling about?" she asked him.

Pixy chuckled, "Oh I'm just thinking about what's going to happen to the enemy once you get back out there. Things have a habit of exploding around you when you get angry".

Cipher smiled at him as well, "I can't really say it's my fault if they piss me off".

Pixy turned around, "Well we've got work to do right? Let's get to it".

Cipher walked over to her destroyed F-15, the severely damaged fighter was mostly intact, but its technology was so old there was no way the crew of the Nirvana could repair it.

"It's just a minor ding buddy" Pixy said looking at the wreckage, "I'm sure we're only seeing it like this because the light is hitting at that angle".

"No" Cipher said quietly, "I think its time to walk away".

"What do you mean?" Pixy asked her.

Cipher smiled at him, which made Pixy nervous, "You'll see" she said in a playful voice as she walked away from him.

"Something is different about you now" Pixy muttered after Cipher left, "You look like you've finally found a reason to fight".

"Will you shut up with that already?" Hibiki yelled from the other side of the hanger, "Nothing is impossible!"

Pixy looked over at Hibiki just as Meia called over to him, "How about using my dread?"

"Meia?" Pyoro muttered at the dread leader walked over to them.

"That should solve your little speed problem. I take it you've given some thought to the next step?"

Hibiki smirked at her, "Oh course I have".

The hanger door opened again and Jura entered with a mischievous smile, "So this is where you've been hiding. I hope you weren't planning on leaving me out of this. You should know by now that I have a nose for things that are interesting".

Pixy smiled at them as he walked over to them, "Hibiki!" he called to the Vanguard pilot.

"What is it?" the young pilot asked him, "I'm kind of busy right now.

"What do you need from Cipher and me?" Pixy asked, "Whatever you need the Galm team has your back".

Hibiki smirked at him, "I've got plenty that you two can do so don't worry about that".

Out in the hallway Dita was happy to see Cipher walking around, "I'm really glad that you're ok Cipher" the young dread pilot said, "I was afraid that you wouldn't" Dita stopped when she felt Cipher's hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you Dita" Cipher said to her with a small smile before kneeling down and looking her in the eyes, "No more crying alright? We're going to win this".

Dita smiled and nodded at her, "You bet!"

Both Cipher and Dita returned to the hanger to see Hibiki, Pixy, Meia, Jura and Barnette standing in a group going over Hibiki's plan. "You're late you two" Jura said to them.

"Well don't just stand there" Hibiki said to Dita, "You're part of the master plan. And no slacking off got it?"

It was finally time the second round was about to begin, Cipher headed to the dread platform where her new fighter was waiting for her while Pixy returned to his ADFX-02.

"Cipher can you hear me?" Pixy asked after switching on his radio.

"Loud and clear…buddy" Cipher replied.

"Our role in Hibiki's plan is to take down as many enemies as we can, its going to be rough so don't get shot this time, I won't be able to clean up after you".

Cipher smirked, "Make another remark like that and the enemy won't get the chance to shoot you down".

The pilots took off from the Nirvana, Jura and Hibiki quickly combined into Vandread Jura while Meia, Barnette and Dita headed for their assigned positions leaving Cipher and Pixy to follow Vandread Jura outside the planet.

Once the Vandread appeared outside the planet it put up its shields knowing that the enemy would immediately fire at it.

"Alright, Cipher, Pixy go!" Hibiki yelled once the enemy started firing at the Vandread.

Both Cipher and Pixy flew out of the planet's atmosphere and began firing at the enemy, immediately shooting down several targets allowing the Vandread to place its shield around the entire planet.

"Vandread Jura is in position!" Aramone announced.

"Begin the operation!" Magno ordered from the bridge.

"Only three minutes until the pressure crushes us" Belvedere announced, "Please proceed with the mission".

"Roger that!" Meia answered, "Parfet its time!"

The head engineer cheered, "Alright its time! Energy reverse!" The engineers reversed the flow of energy from the Peksis reactor, unleashing the excess crystal from the ship and into the planet's atmosphere allowing the Peksis to return to its natural state.

"Power levels are returning to normal" Belvedere said as the ship's systems began returning to their normal states.

"Pixy here, another bandit down!"

"Galm 1 splash two more! Meia are you guys done yet?"

"Just a little more" Meia growled monitoring the core's temperature, "Done!"

"They did it!" Aramone said, "Nuclear fusion achieved!"

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Magno yelled, "Bart turn the ship around now!"

The helmsman turned the Nirvana around and began flying out of the planet's surface as the core erupted into a massive flare that lashed out in every direction.

Meia looked back at Dita as the three dreads began their retreat, "Dita from here on out speed is everything don't slow down for even a second".

Hibiki and Jura separated and the Vanguard fell back into the planet's atmosphere, combining with Meia's dread.

"You were out of position" Meia told him after they combined.

"Yeah because you took so damn long" Hibiki fired back.

Meia smiled at him, "If we didn't combine I never would have had to hear your wisecracks again".

"I could say the same about you" Hibiki replied before looking ahead of them, "Let's go!"

Vandread Meia grabbed hold of Dita's dread and began escaping while Barnette returned to the Nirvana making an emergency landing on the ship.

Watching her radar, Cipher waited for the exact moment when the dreads and Nirvana would break through the planet's atmosphere, "Almost there" she muttered, "Just a little more". Narrowing her eyes, Cipher felt a stinging pain in the side of her head which caused her vision to blur and she became dizzy.

Cipher grunted as she collapsed against the controls of the dread she was flying, causing the dread to bank right into an enemy squad, thankfully Pixy saved her.

"Cipher!" Pixy yelled, "Cipher you ok?"

Cipher was breathing heavily as she pushed herself back up, "I'm alright" she panted before noticing Vandread Meia and the Nirvana were mere seconds from escaping the planet, "PIXY NOW!" she yelled.

"Roger!" Pixy replied, turning his ADFX-02 toward the enemy and fired his Multi-Purpose Burst Missile. The missile soared at the enemy line directly in front of the Vandread and Nirvana before detonating and wiping out the enemy forces in the immediate vicinity, clearing the way for them to break through.

"Alright they're through; let's get back to the Nirvana!" Pixy said, but Cipher refused.

"No! We're going back until this is over!"

Cipher's dread sped after Vandread Meia, keeping a safe distance from the flare trailing after them.

"Cipher its too dangerous, pull out!" Pixy pleaded, but Cipher wouldn't listen she continued to follow after the Vandread.

Cipher's grip tightened on her controls, "I'm not going to leave! I'm going to stay here and see this through! I won't leave until this is over!"

"Fiona get out of there!"

"This is it!" Meia said, "Dita get ready!"

Vandread Meia separated, leaving the Vanguard to combine with Dita, once Vandread Dita was formed the enemy began attacking, but Cipher quickly shot them down.

Flying in front of the Vandread, Cipher turned her dread into a rapid spinning barrel roll, firing a barrage of lasers hitting each of the enemies, shooting them down.

"Hey you're in the way!" Hibiki yelled at Cipher as the Vandread's shoulder mounted cannons separated from the mech and fused together in a massive lance like weapon.

Grabbing hold of the lance, the Vandread reared back allowing the flare from the planet to be drawn to the lance's energy before hurling it toward the enemy flagship ahead of them, causing the flare to fly after it.

The flagship fired its main weapon at the Vandread and the two attacks collided, but with the force of a exploding planet behind it, the Vandread's lance easily overpowered the flagship's attack and pushed it back before piercing through its hull and destroying it. The following shockwave wiped out the entire enemy fleet along with the flagship.

"We did it!" Dita cheered, "We won!"

The Vandread was about to turn around, before another hit appeared on the radar, "We're not done yet!" Cipher yelled as the flagship appeared out of the explosion, extremely damaged, but still functioning.

"They sure are persistent" Magno noted as the flagship advanced toward the Vandread.

"There's another flare coming from the planet" Belvedere said, "Its heading straight for Vandread Dita!"

"Vandread Dita get out of there now!" BC ordered.

"No!" Hibiki refused, "This ends now! I won't let them get away!"

"Hibiki" Cipher said as her screen appeared in the Vandread's cockpit, "I know you can do it".

Hibiki smiled at her as the mercenary turned her dread away from the incoming flare, "Right, just leave it to us".

The flare reached the Vandread and consumed it leaving Cipher flying away from it with her eyes closed, hoping that Hibiki knew what he was doing.

When the flare engulfed the Vandread, its signal was lost and everyone thought they were dead.

Cipher kept her eyes closed and silently prayed that the Vandread had survived.

"Hibiki you idiot" Bart moaned from the helmsman portal, "None of this will have any meaning if you die".

"I'm not dead yet!" Hibiki said as the Vandread's signal appeared again.

The Vandread charged forward after absorbing the energy of the planet's flare, flying directly into the massive hole in the head of the flagship, ripping through it and destroying it from the inside with a violent explosion.

After watching the Vandread destroy what was left of the flagship, Cipher smiled as she leaned back in her seat, _"I'm glad you're both ok…"_

With their nightmare finally over, everyone gathered in the hanger as Hibiki climbed out of the Vanguard to see everyone waiting for him.

After Hibiki climbed out of the Vanguard, Jura immediately grabbed him, "Oh my hero! You were so amazing!" she said, smothering him against her breasts, "I doubted you for a while, but I misjudged you!" she began kissing him making Dita jealous.

"Stop that!" Dita cried as she pulled a very tired Hibiki out of her arms.

"What's with you?" Jura asked Dita, "I'm only trying to thank him for saving my life is all!"

"Well you can't!" Dita told her, "Mr. Alien still has a promise he has to fulfill to me!"

"Alert!" Pyoro screamed as he rushed over to them, "We've got a problem!"

"What's with you?" Jura asked the NAVI-bot, "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something here?"

"There's no time for something like that!" Pyoro yelled before his face changed, showing them an image of other flagship, "Earth has already discovered that we've destroyed one of their flagship and have diverted their other fleets from other solar systems to destroy Mejere and Tarak!"

"There are five of them!" Jura gasped.

"What are we going to do?" Barnette wondered, "We were barely able to defeat one, how can we destroy five of them?"

Everyone began wondering the same thing, how would they deal with another flagship, let alone five of them.

"What's wrong with all of you?" Hibiki said getting to his feet, "Are you just going to shrivel up in fear? We can't back down, no matter how high the wall we have to climb over it and show proof that we exist and to do that we have to take the path we have to take" he looked up to Dita and then down to Cipher who was standing at the doorway, "Isn't that right?"

Dita smiled and nodded at him and Cipher closed her eyes with a pleased and respectful smile of her own as she looked away.

Everyone slept well that night, the toughest battle any of them had ever seen was finally over and without a doubt they all earned the rest they got, even the captain and BC retired early that night, the only two people left awake were Cipher and Pixy.

The two mercenaries were standing next to each other in the garden, staring up at the stars around the ship.

"I was worried about you" Pixy admitted, "I'm glad you're ok".

Cipher remained quiet as she looked up at the stars.

"We still have a long way to go before this is over" Pixy continued, "But after today, I'm sure we can handle anything they throw at us".

Cipher had a small smile on her face as she looked down at the stream in front of them, "Larry I want an honest answer out of you".

Pixy looked at her, "What is it?" he asked quickly becoming nervous.

"What do you really think about me?" Cipher asked him, "Since we became a team again you've been trying to get closer to me, I want to know why. What do you really think about when you look at me?"

Pixy looked away from her to compose himself, "An honest answer?" he asked.

"Please" Cipher told him.

Pixy slowly exhaled as he answered, hoping Cipher wouldn't be angry by his response, "I used to see you as just my friend, but after what happened on Christmas…I realized how scared you were".

Pixy paused and kept his eyes off of Cipher, trying to brace himself in case she swung at him, but after nothing happened he exhaled again before continuing, "When I saw the way you just collapsed the way you did…I felt like I just had to help you I don't know why, but seeing you like that made me feel horrible, I couldn't stand seeing you like that".

"I know you want to go back to the time we knew, where we belong and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to go back as well, but this is where we are now. I want to go back to Cipher and if you want an honest answer, I wouldn't want to be here if I couldn't be here with you".

Pixy paused again to take another breath, once he said what he was thinking there was no turning back, "You want to know what I really think when I look at you?" he asked her, finally turning to face her, "I see more than my friend" he told her, "I don't know how you feel about me Fiona, but I see you more than just my friend and I think a small part of my has always felt like that even after I…"

Cipher looked away from him, her voice sounded distant and afraid as she spoke, "You betrayed me and then tried to kill me".

Pixy closed his eyes and looked away from her, he figured that she still blamed him for them being where they are now, but he hoped that she would be willing to forgive him for it.

"It's funny" Cipher said in a faint breaking voice, "You tried to kill me, but…I think you're the one that saved me".

Pixy looked back at her, unsure of what she meant, but he saw the small tears in her eyes and the sadness in her voice as she tried to keep herself from crying in front of him.

Cipher continued, her voice still breaking through he words, "If you didn't detonate the V2 that day. I would probably be the same person I was that day. Because of what's happened up till now I think I've changed…I don't know why, but I think its because of you…When you helped me that night, when I was ready for it all to end…you saved me that night Larry".

Cipher was trembling as she leaned toward him and wrapped her arms around him, the hardened person she used to be was still fighting to keep him at arm's length, but she didn't want to be that person anymore. Cipher wanted to change, to become the person Magno knew she could be when she talked to her during Christmas.

When Cipher wrapped her arms around him, Pixy could feel how badly she was trembling, he could tell she was afraid of what she was doing, afraid of appearing weak to him. Raising his own arms, Pixy held her against him.

Feeling his arms around her, Cipher instinctively tensed up, but quickly settled down and accepted his embrace, "Larry…will you stay with me?"

"Of course I will" he told her, keeping his voice calm for her sake, "I…I love you Fiona".

Cipher felt as though her heart stopped after she heard those words, she began to feel like she was suffocating as Pixy's admission played over and over in her mind. She felt like she couldn't breathe and was drowning on the air in her throat.

She was still trembling as she gently pushed away from him and looked up into his eyes, she could see how sad he looked himself and knew that he was telling the truth, he really did love her. Looking into his eyes, Cipher swallowed the suffocating feeling in her throat and kissed him. When their lips met her body finally stopped trembling, Cipher closed her eyes allowing the silent world around them to stop existing for a brief moment. For now it was just the two of them and for the first time in many years, Cipher was happy, she finally found something important to her maybe the thing she had been looking for from the beginning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN.** And there it is, the final chapter in the first stage of Vandread Zero. The Nirvana and her crew have survived the nightmare of the harvest flagship and are ready to continue their journey with a new found sense of determination.

Not only has Hibiki finally gained the respect of the female pirates, but now Cipher as well.

And the two pilots of the Galm team have finally admitted that they need each other to keep surviving in the world they're in now, leading Pixy to admit to Cipher how he really feels about her allowing Cipher to do the same.

For now their relationship has taken a great step forward, but will it last? That and other questions will be answered when the Galm team and the crew of the Nirvana return in Vandread Zero: The Second Stage!


End file.
